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THE ADVENTURES 

OF 

JOHN PAS-PLUS 


THE MARQUIS OF LORNE 


FEB 33 1892 ^ il 

2.L,^i/ A 


NEW YORK 

JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 

1 50 WORTH ST., COR. MISSION PLACE 



i ' 


Copyright, 1891, 

BY 

UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY. 


All Rights Reserved, 



THE ADVENTURES OF 
JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

CHAPTER I. 

It is not possible for me to write English, 
and therefore I use the pen of another man 
to tell the curious story of my life. French 
has been taught to me, and that is the 
language which I would seek to use were I, 
to address myself to any of our countrymen 
who are themselves of French blood. But, 
although this is the case, I am not of French 
origin, but of English, or rather American. 
This sounds puzzling, and perhaps the impa- 
tient reader will exclaim, “ What the devil 
does it matter who you are, go ahead with 


6 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

your story.” It has been my lot to see 
many impatient people, and the more impa- 
tient they become, the slower and more im- 
passive do I grow; so there is no use in 
hurrying me, for deliberation has become a 
habit of my life, and rapidity of speech is 
not an attribute of the folk with whom my 
years of manhood have been passed. No, 
rather do they avoid speech except when to 
talk is necessary. Among those to whom I 
have spoken, and to whom I have opened 
my heart, have been men who deny that it is 
possible for me to recollect the first events 
which I recount as having been deeply 
engraven on my brain. At what age do we 
first seize upon things that happen so that 
we do not afterwards forget them? At a 
very early age, as I believe. A picture of 
some scene which has startled us, or, for 
some unknown cause, impressed us in almost 
infancy, may remain on the brain. To be 


THE ADVENTURES OP JOHN PAS-PLUS. 7 

sure, its outlines and colouring may have 
been rendered more distinct afterwards in 
that we may have pondered over the incident 
we imagine we remember to have been acted. 
But there are cases where we remember 
things of which no man has ever spoken to 
us, but our souls alone seem to have been 
touched, and thrilled by feelings which 
made that scene remain, as some picture of 
a dream may remain, though most dreams 
pass and are lost for ever. It is something 
that frightens us, or that is very beautiful, 
which we recollect. The vacant, glassy eyes 
of an infant see things which they cannot 
fix ; and although at that age we may smile 
or howl, we do not know afterwards that 
we have done so. But surely the eyes of 
children only just able to walk have another 
look, showing that there is an awkward 
intelligence behind them. Well, I believe 
that I remember the death of my mother, 


8 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

but in this way only. I feel that a scene 
arises now before my eyes of her body lying 
with crimson about her, and that I tried in 
vain to make her pay attention to me. That 
this occurred I am certain, though no man 
ever told me of it. Why was she murdered ? 
Ah ! for no fault of hers. She was killed in 
a raid of redskins made on a frontier settle- 
ment of white people. I see this vague 
horror just as I would look on a waterfall or 
sunset dame. ’There must have been a fear 
and misery, or at least a wonder, in my half- 
conscious little mind, but it probably only 
partook of the character of a desire to possess 
that which could not be again had, namely, 
the fondling caress of the hands of the dead 
parent. If she made resistance, if there was 
a fight or not, none can tell ; for I know not 
where to look for those who might yet tell 
of the attack and massacre. It is indifferent 
to me now what happened. The seeking 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 9 

for assistance from that prone figure is all 
that fancy enables me to remember, and I 
have thought that there was a child like unto 
myself who strove with me to awake the 
dead mother, but I am not certain of this. 
I call this fancy, for that there was any wish 
or object in my mind is impossible, and may 
only be assumed from after knowledge of 
what was likely under the circumstances to 
have been my feeling. The figure lying 
silent is all that I can recall distinctly. And 
after this picture, which ever forms itself 
anew before me, as I search my memory, 
and endeavour to bring back some evi- 
dence which may show what I am, I 
know of nothing more for what must have 
been a prolonged period. The people who 
slaughtered my mother and her friends must 
have carried me away. Why they did not 
kill me also was never told to me, and indeed 
the strange transitions of my career would 


lo the adventures of JOHN PAS- PLUS, 

have made it impossible that they should have 
enlightened me on the subject. The next oc- 
currence that can be mentioned as remaining 
in my mind, was a hurt received in a baby or 
childish quarrel with a young Indian. Dis- 
tinctly do I remember the pain of a blow on 
the head received from my tiny opponent. 
This again and nothing more of that time 
can I tell. The picture of the enraged face 
of the little Indian who struck me, of the gleam 
of joy in the bright eyes set in his brown 
visage; this seems to me to have occurred 
only yesterday, and yet it is how many years 
ago ? The Great Spirit alone knows ! But 
then come other memories thickly following 
each other, and distinct enough, as, for in- 
stance, the first time I was allowed to have a 
bow and an arrow in my hand, the lessons in 
its use I received from one tall man, who, 
lank and brown as .a withered sedge, accom- 
panied my walks, and shot to my great 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 1 1 

admiration the grouse upon the trees, in the 
dark woods where my early childhood was 
spent. I loved that tall man, and he must 
have been fond of me, for he was my constant 
guide, companion, and teacher. Where it 
was we lived I know not. A great broad 
rushing river was near the tents where we 
dwelt. These tents were not made like those 
I knew afterwards ; they were of bark, or some 
similar material, and were not painted or 
decorated like those I subsequently- knew. 
No, they were rougher and smaller, and we 
paddled about on the river water in little 
canoes. How well those first delights in 
paddling about in the water rise before me ! 
The merry laughter of the torrent rushing 
over the shallows, shrill like the songs of 
women, the heavy thunder of the white 
rapids, the dark clear pools and long river 
reaches reflecting all the woods, the green of 
their needles and leaves mingling with the 


12 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

blue reflection of the sky, how well can these 
recollections be revived! But where these 
existed I know not. All this part of my life 
seems like a happy dream ! And then again 
another impression is borne down the stream 
of time on me. I was not as the other 
children there. They looked upon me as 
different from themselves; of this there was 
an ever-growing consciousness in me, and I 
disliked it that they should thus look on me. 
Why was it t I was as strong as they, I could 
do as much in all games and in feats of 
childish rivalry. Some of them took me as 
a leader, but others again thought it wrong 
that this should be so, for I was not as they 
were. Why was this ? It was long before I 
found it out, but the reflection of my face and 
body in the stream, the glance at my own 
limbs, told me that something had made me 
white and red, whereas they were brown. 
As years passed this was to my advantage, for 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 13 

I was regarded by most of them as a supe- 
rior being, and this I found was an idea easily 
sustained. There was none like unto me, 
and I could do more than they could in run- 
ning, in leaping, in swimming. I grew up a 
young savage among savages. Yet is not 
the savage less inhuman than they who 
live together in large nations, whose end and 
object in their lives is to make themselves 
less and less able to live alone in the struggle 
for existence, and who render themselves so 
dependent on the goods their fellow-men 
have provided for them that if they find 
themselves deprived of their accustomed 
things to eat and shelter them, they die like 
the beasts.? As time passed, when still a 
mere stripling, I was regarded as a young 
chief. Well do I remember the day when 
I was first allowed to accompany a party 
who were to make a forage upon a white 
man’s settlement. The silent preparations 


14 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

of the braves, the excitement among the 
women, the talk of the old men who recounted 
their deeds in long past days, the boasting of 
the younger among the men who were to take 
part in the fighting, of what they could do 
and had already done. One of these particu- 
larly struck my fancy, for he had been kind 
to me, and I admired him. Unlike the 
more seasoned warriors, he kept not silence. 
Perhaps he desired to make some impression 
on the hearts of the girls, for he strutted up 
and down before the wigwams when the girls 
were seated near the doors, and mimicked 
the feats he had performed a year before. 
He brandished his axe and bent his bow, 
and seemed now to be creeping up to his 
enemy, now to be shooting at him, and then, 
as though the mark had not been hit, to be 
engaged in deadly conflict, springing back, 
and then leaping forward, while his knife 
glistened in the air, and the war-whoop 


THE AD VENTURES OF fOHN PAS-PLUS. \ 5 

resounded from his lips. Rapidly did my 
heart beat, as I too listened to him ; and 
greatly did I long to be able to tell of such 
deeds, and to be admired as he was. But 
alas ! he was not exempt from a love of 
brandy, or fire-water. Indeed, part of the 
veneration in which he was held in our camp 
was owing, not only to -the performances 
that had justly signalised him in the field, 
but also to the fury he exhibited when he 
had drunk too deeply of the terrible brown 
fluid that made him mad. During the 
paroxysms of rage into which he fell when 
under its influence, he said things which 
made his friends believe that he saw not 
what the whites call the spirits in the bottle, 
but the viewless spirits of the air who seemed 
to talk with him, as he raged and shouted. 
Verily, he was not himself at these times. 
His kindness turned to cruelty, his voice 
was altered, his appearance became horrible. 


1 6 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

He frothed at the lips and it was as though 
some demon possessed him. On other men, 
especially the more aged, the drink had not 
nearly so much effect as on the younger and 
stronger. In these the power of a thousand 
devils seemed to ferment in hideous orgy of 
anger. But with my own friend it was 
even worse than, with the others. It was 
only too easy for our braves to get the stuff 
that made them so rabid. The traders were 
eager to sell the brandy to them for any 
peltries that could be given in exchange. 
The skin of one black fox, for instance, 
especially if he had a scattered number of 
white hairs, picking out the darkness of the 
rest of the fur, would be held of so much 
value by these traders that they would give 
enough brandy to drench our camp in 
spirits. It was easy for us to get furs, and 
with them the brandy was never lacking. 
Some of the old chiefs used to protest 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 7 

against its use, and there was even an attempt 
made to prevent it by a law from being in- 
troduced into our hunting grounds. But the 
majority of our people would not join the 
wom.en and old m^en who desired such pro- 
hibition, for they loved the liquor and would 
bring it by stealth when it was attempted to 
prevent its coming. Perhaps the traders 
were not so glad of it on this occasion, for it 
brought evil to these people as well as to us. 
But the change the drink made was sad forme, 
for before our attack was made, and as the pre- 
parations were beginning for the expedition, 
my friend filled himself with the terror-giving 
fluid, and his mind changed with his face. 
He was always kind to me when sober, but 
now he looked upon me with eyes of enmity 
and anger. “ Who is this ? ” he cried, as 
though he had never seen me before, and 
then he laughed aloud and shouted, “ Who is 
this } Will you not answer ? Who are you 


1 8 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

that you come among our people? You are 
a pale face, and a spy, and an evil-doer.” I 
tried to pacify him, and told him that he 
knew well enough who I was ; that I was the 
same young follower he had ever had, but I 
was frightened at his vehemence, thinking 
that the Great Spirit, the All Father, Manito, 
had taken his wits altogether away from him, 
and that he would become as I had seen 
those who had been bitten by rabid dogs, for 
these men frothed at the mouth, as my friend 
did on that day, and then they could not eat, 
nor drink, nor sleep, but died howling like 
unto sick beasts. And he too made as 
though he would bite me, and his eyes were 
full of blood, and his voice was like the 
voice of some other man crying out from 
the lips I knew. And when he rushed at 
me 1 leaped aside, and he fell and struck his 
head on a sharp stone, and lay there at my 
feet ; and I thought he was dead, and went 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 9 

and fetched others, and they bore him away, 
and I went near him no more. And on the 
morrow we departed from the camp, where I 
thought some of our people were not looking 
kindly at me, as though they too had heard 
the awful and lying words of my friend. 
Was he my friend still .? I knew not. They 
told me he had already started ahead of the 
rest of our party. I believed not -this, but 
went unquestioning, and not especially desi- 
rous to be under his protection as of old. 
“Wilt thou go.? ’’asked one who marched 
with me, “ wilt thou go on the war path 
when it may lead thee against those who are 
even as thou art ? Manito made thee white 
as are those who send us the brandy and 
kill us with disease, and desire to take from 
us our lands. They are stronger than we, 
and thou must be of their race. Wilt thou 
war against thine own blood ? ” and I an- 
swered and said, “Yes, verily I will, for I 


20 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 

know not whence I came, and always my life 
and love have been with you, and the Indian 
is my brother, and his desire is mine, and his 
joy and grief are mine. Do I not wear the 
paint and feathers and war dress of thy 
people } Yes, though the colour may be put 
on the face and body, yet love must direct 
the warrior’s arm. Paint changes not his 
heart. Neither does my colour change my 
wishes and my nature. If your enemies be 
like me, you know only the paint nature has 
put on me. If it bring any good fortune in 
battle, that good fortune shall tell for you. 
I will rob the pale men of their God’s 
courage by showing them that there are such 
as they fighting against them. You will see 
their hearts will melt.” “We will see,” said 
another. “ I had a dream that we should be 
victorious, and take the scalps of our enemies, 
because we had with us the young pale face, 
our brother, and that his wisdom was greater 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 2 1 

than ours, and his counsel guided us.” I 
was naturally pleased at hearing these 
sayings, and was quite ready to imagine that 
I was superior to my neighbours. They had 
often expressed their belief in the truth of 
dreams, and had said that they foretold 
events. And I often dream.ed strange 
dreams, and walked in my sleep, which was 
considered as a proof that I was under some 
supernatural influence. Did my brown, or 
rather red, friends not also walk in their 
sleep when they were young ? Perhaps ; I 
know not. It is certain that they considered 
it to be in me a sign that I was possessed by 
another will than my own. Once in such a 
night dreaming I had arisen, and had gone 
in the dead of night through the sleeping 
camp, whose sentinels had, however, observed 
and followed me. Away from beyond the 
lim.its. of the further lodges I had led them, 
into the wood, and then, making a half circle, 


22 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

I reached the stream at a place where it 
dashed in capricious and boiling floods 
through a scattered collection of rocks. 
From point to point of these I had sprung, 
until reaching near to one which seemed in- 
accessible, so sundered was it from the rest, 
and so girded with the roaring waters, 
I had leaped with incredible agility, and 
gained its side, and had then slowly climbed 
it, and had stood like the white-headed eagle 
on the very pinnacle, where there appeared 
to be only room for the bird of prey. Then, 
as slowly descending, I had again traversed 
in my sleep, but with strangely staring eyes, 
the maze of maddened waters, passing from 
rock to rock like a winged thing, and had 
re-entered the wood, and again gained my 
couch, wholly unconscious of my act. I was 
told of it, and disbelieved it until there came 
upon me like a dim vision a sensation that 
such an experience had been mine, and I 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 23 

ceased my denials, finding, not only that I 
was not believed, but that my friends deemed 
the denial only a part of the play, and that 
the incident had been one betokening that 
I was not as other men, and therefore to be 
more admired and followed. We uncon- 
sciously like to wear the garments of glory 
which others desire to cast on our shoulders. 
When it answers our object we are not unwill- 
ing to persuade ourselves of attributes which 
our former senses denied that we possessed. 
It may be that such temperaments as mine 
may exaggerate and confirm a latent power 
shown for the first time in some such act, 
by brooding over it, or encouraging the 
brain in fancies that lead it to fateful dreams. 
Whenever I was excited my dreams were 
most vivid, and this was especially the case 
when I had fasted. We often were com- 
pelled to fast from want of game, but, in 
addition to the natural and ever-recurring 


24 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

periods when there was not enough to 
satisfy our hunger, it was the habit of the 
young men to prove themselves by fasting. 
This was carried to such an extent that I 
have gone without food for days, subsisting 
only on water, until faint and well-nigh 
dead. Then, when the trial was over, a 
feast would be prepared, and we overeat our- 
selves, so that both the empty and the over- 
fed stomach gave birth to strange dreams and 
fancies. And now again on this occasion, 
when we were to go forth to v/ar with the 
white iTien, I dreamed a dream, or was it a 
vision that took possession of me ? During 
the noonday I saw many of our tribe walk- 
ing about, but on each man’s face was a 
ghastly pallor which made the paint with 
which they had bedaubed themselves yet 
more repulsive. They seemed to my eyes 
tc) be walking corpses, and I looked at 
them whom I knew and loved, and who 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 25 

were indeed walking about in the strength 
and pride of manhood, and I shuddered and 
wept, for I saw them disfigured and bloated 
and gashed with wounds, and the wounds 
were not as we make them with our weapons, 
— the arrow, the tomahawk, and the knife, — 
but they were red holes with jagged edges, 
and in some cases the very skull seemed 
blown away. Ah ! it was horrible to see, 
but I would not say what appeared, for it 
would have been considered unmanly, and 
our hearts were to be lifted unto the battle. 
Yet as I went with them in that march I 
was sad, and the natural exultation I had 
felt died away within me. We set out, ac- 
companied by some of the military precau- 
tions which I afterwards found to exist 
among the whites, for scouts were sent 
in advance, although the whole coun- 
try had been thoroughly spied out for the 
last month or two, and we knew almost 


26 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

every animal that was in it, let alone the 
number of men whom we should have to 
encounter. An Indian does not move without 
preparation, nor does he fight his enemy 
readily unless he can take him at a disadvan- 
tage. We were pretty sure that we should 
succeed, or we would not have commenced 
operations when we did. In addition to the 
scouts far ahead, there was an advance guard 
organised. We crossed the river at which 
we were encamped, in our canoes, and shout- 
ing and yells accompanied the dip of the 
paddles as the flotilla crossed, full of painted 
braves. The march was through the forest, 
and the appearance of our men was for- 
midable enough. Some were disguised not 
only by the colours on their faces, but by the 
change made in the manner in which they 
had covered their whole bodies with paint. 
One had made himself as dark as charcoal, 
and the ribs were marked out in white, so 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 27 

that he looked like a moving skeleton, an 
effect still further enhanced by the whitening 
of his face save w'here great black circular 
marks denoted the eye-hollows. His teeth were 
also made to look as if they stood forth out of 
fleshless jaws. Yet another was all striped in 
red ochre and black. The individual fancy 
led each man to make himself as horrible as 
possible. As the spring had but lately come, 
tunics of leather were worn at night only, so 
that the action of the march should not incom- 
mode the bearer, and yet that he might have 
cover against the cold, when it might not be 
advisable to light fires for fear of discovery. 
A single bunch of feathers decorated the top 
of the heads, where the long hair was massed 
and tied in a way that made the man seem 
far taller than he really was. Hide-made 
baldricks and quivers held the bows and 
arrows, and each of the band had his hatchet 
and sharp-edged dagger. In long single file 


28 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

we entered the woods, and tramped on in 
silence, our legs being protected with 
fringed garments of skin, which were held up 
by a strap attached to a belt, and beginning 
at the upper part of the thigh reached down 
to our moccasined feet. Wallets held food 
which had been prepared so as to give us 
a week’s provisions. “ Ugh,” grunted our 
leader, “ May the Great Spirit allow living 
men to feed on these provisions. But if any 
of us lie dead, they will serve for the journey 
of the warrior’s spirit into the happy hunting 
grounds, and the dried meat shall be laid 
with his arms in his grave.” 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS, 29 


CHAPTER II. 

It was the early spring-time, and the sun 
was already hot by day, but the nights were 
cold enough, and we were glad to have 
fires when we halted on the first few 
evenings of our march. The maples and 
birches and other trees were bare, but the 
fir trees and the thickets of cedars gave us 
shelter from the winds, and it was our 
habit to bivouac under the lee of a clump 
of these. We did not camp beneath their 
boughs, because the snow still lay underneath 
them, for the thick branches prevented the 
rays from melting the snow in the shade, and 
yet the snow was damp and unlike the 
winter snow when it is so dry and powdery 
that the firelight illumines it, but has no 


30 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS, 

further effect upon it. Then, indeed, it is a 
pleasure to light the fire in a space cleared 
of the hard snow, whose white walls reflect 
the glow, and add rather than detract from 
the heat'. On the tenth day we lit no fire, 
for we were approaching the settlement. 
And now what was it that induced this band, 
among whom I had found a home, to begin 
anew the strife, into which they were plung- 
ing, with a hatred for the pale faces that could 
only be quenched in their blood } It arose 
from the encroachment made by the white 
men on the fishing-grounds as well as on the 
hunting-grounds of the natives. At first, 
they had not ventured far inland, but now 
they had advanced up the rivers, and had 
launched their boats upon the lake, and the 
salmon and the whitefish, with which the 
Indians had largely fed themselves, had be- 
come the prey of the invaders. Payment 
had been claimed by the natives from one 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 3 1 

fishing party, and had been refused. It 
was again asked on the next occasion, when 
nets had been thrown into pools much used 
by the Indians, and again refused; and 
then a quarrel had ensued, ending in the 
death of one of the Indians from a musket 
shot. The strangers were too well armed 
for successful resistance to be made to them, 
and they returned with only one member 
of their expedition wounded by an arrow. 
Vengeance was loudly called for, but the 
headmen, knowing the peril of an attack 
advised that it might be postponed. The 
fight, if so it could be called, had happened 
in the autumn, and it was resolved to lull 
the settlers into security before commencing 
any hostilities against them. So, during the 
long winter days and nights, the appetite for 
revenge had been studiously whetted. Old 
men told of early encounters with the whites, 
of their ruthlessness, of the immunity with 


32 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

which some attacks had been made, until 
that part of the country where they had 
occurred had been almost freed of any 
presence but that of the red sons of the 
soil. The difficulty that must be overcome 
before any pursuit could be successful, the 
speed with which they themselves could 
travel, their superior acquaintance with the 
ravines, passes and forests, all were enlarged 
upon, until a persuasion had taken posses- 
sion of the mind that bearding the strangers 
was, after all, no such difficult undertaking. 
To be sure, arrows against guns were 
insufficient weapons, but a few guns had 
been obtained by the tribe, and it was 
suggested that, once a successful onslaught 
v;ere made, it would be possible to possess 
them-selves of more. And then, should 
defeat and a repulse have now to be endured, 
it would be possible to raise other tribes to 
help them, if dire extremity make it desirable 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN FAS- PL US. 33 

to do SO. At present, any plunder obtained 
by victory would belong to their tribe alone, 
and need not be divided with others. These 
were considerations that determined my 
tribe to act alone in seeking redress for the 
last year’s wrongs. We were a party of only 
sixty-five in all, but when it is taken into 
account how quick and unexpected was to be 
our attack, and rapid our retreat, the number 
engaged seemed more than enough. On the 
tenth day of our march we saw the forest 
smoking ahead of us, and found a belt of fir 
trees burning. It was a curious sight to see 
the fire smouldering in the blackened trunks, 
while the snow was melted, and the ground 
about them was damp and boggy through the 
unnatural thaw produced by the conflagra- 
tion. Much burning wood lay about, and I 
laughed as I saw our men deliberate before 
putting foot among the flakes. The cour- 
ageous way in which they advanced was 
3 


34 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

checked, and men painted like devils dropped 
their haughty airs, and pranced about when 
stung by the burning embers, or performed 
ridiculous antics in trying to avoid them as 
they zig-zagged about, jumping now here, 
now there, to avoid injury to their feet- 
But at last we all got through this belt of 
wood, some of us a little scorched and 
blackened by a few falls among the debris 
left by the flames. Soon afterwards our 
scouts came back to us, and told us that the 
settlers were in sight. Great caution was 
now exercised, and we crept forward as 
though we were “ still hunting,” as indeed 
we were, the most difficult game. I was 
allowed to accompany the line which, instead 
of being headed towards the enemy, had 
been “ deployed,” and was now again pushing 
its cautious way in a long string, each man 
abreast of his comrade, but at some distance 
from him. Very slow was our progress, for 


THE ADVENTURES OF /OHN PAS-PLUS. 35 

we desired not to break even one rotten twig 
on the ground, but to come upon the enemy 
without allowing him a moment for prepara- 
tion. Ah ! what an unresisting foe we found 
before us ! After the pine and fir thickets, 
a portion of which had been ablaze, were 
passed, there was a great area of copse, 
and then, rising over the poplar and birch, 
appeared the lofty crowns of heavy woods 
of maple. Among these it was difficult 
to make our way unseen, for ahead of us 
we distinctly saw a number of white women 
and men employed in the peaceful task of 
gathering the maple sugar from the trees. 
They had lit a great fire in one part of the 
wood, and over this were suspended many 
large kettles. Each maple tree around had 
been tapped, that is, a spigot of wood had 
been fixed into a hole made in the bark, and 
the rich sap mounting the tree in the spring 
season, was sending a thin trickle of white 


36 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

liquor up the trunk, and it was exuding 
through these little pipes inserted by the in- 
dustrious whites. The drops that fell were 
caught below in rough wooden troughs placed 
so that they could be easily lifted when full, 
and their contents transferred to the kettles as 
they hung over the fire. Our eyes glistened 
as do the hunters’ when they see their game ; 
and it was resolved to retire, and to effect a 
“ surround,” so that none might escape. The 
thoughts of the poor Indian slain during the 
previous year was in the minds of all of us, 
and we determined that his spirit should not 
walk unavenged the fields where we believed 
him now to be wandering, and mindful of the 
cruel fate he had met in the underworld. So 
we retired, and then, spreading out in a wide 
circle, we gave time to our two wings to get 
well in front, and then we bore down on the 
settlement, the awful yell rising only when 
we knew that our comrades gave the signal. 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 37 

Consternation seized the unfortunate people. 
Some of the men had guns, and ran to them 
and fired them, but in an instant the arrow 
and tomahawk did their work, and none but 
the wounded and the women remained. Pierc- 
ing were the yells of the victors and terrible 
was the agony of fear that seized on the poor 
white women. They huddled together, their 
children clinging to them, and seemed too 
distracted even to weep. Well might they 
have fear, for they were destined first to see the 
wounded among the prisoners tortured, and 
then themselves to be slain. There was no 
mercy to be found among the savages into 
whose hands they had fallen. Guarded by 
several of our men, they were allowed to 
remain where they sat, while others went and 
brought in the wounded ; of these there were 
four whose hurts were not mortal. They 
had been so successful in preserving their lives 
that the Indians said in derision they would 


38 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 

still give them more chances than the others. 
Before they bound them to stakes to be tried 
by the pains they knew so well how to inflict, 
they would see how their nerves bore the 
chance of a speedier death. Some of the 
young men were desirous of trying their skill 
as archers, why not try it upon those who 
had shot their comrade And this plan they 
carried out that night. Darkness would add 
zest to the amusement, while the victims were 
to be placed in the light of a fire. They 
were made to stand in a row, and the young 
men taking their bows retired to some dis- 
tance, for it was not wished that the prisoners 
should die by this speedy method. The 
range, therefore, was made unreasonably 
great that the test of sending the arrow far 
might be brought to bear, and further, another 
test was added which rendered it yet more 
unlikely that any wounds inflicted would be 
serious. Three arrows were to be discharged 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 39 

by each man as quickly as possible, and he 
who shot them off the quickest together 
' with accuracy of aim should have the biggest 
prize in plunder of the victim’s effects. The 
women prisoners were to be made to watch 
close to the scene of execution the flight of 
the arrows. Great was the excitement about 
this game, which harmonised well with the 
red men’s love both of cruelty and of gam- 
bling ; they would put everything they had to 
the hazard, and each man backed his favourite 
to shoot off the arrows the quickest and to 
shoot the straightest. I was one of those 
appointed to guard the women as they were 
made to sit on the ground close to the four 
men who were to become living targets. A 
blaze from a pine wood fire lit up the scene, 
and made the darkness of the maple grove 
about us yet more gloomy. The four slightly 
wounded men took their places after giving 
each other a grasp of the hand. They stood 


40 the adventures of JOHN FAS- PL US. 

in a row, their contracted features, set with 
pain and anxiety, seemed doubly gaunt and 
marked as the firelight played on them, and 
they looked out into the darkness whence 
should come the hissing messengers of death. 
The pleasure of the Indian marksmen was 
enhanced by allowing time to elapse before 
they commenced their game, and we waited 
and watched. At last we heard the singing 
of an arrow, and it fell at the foot of the man 
who stood furthest from us, and in an instant 
came the hiss of two more shafts, one of 
which missed, and the other stuck in the 
man’s leg. The second man was then shot 
at, and he, more fortunate than his neighbour, 
received the third dart in his chest and sank 
apparently lifeless. Then the third stood as 
a mark, and he escaped altogether, all their 
shafts directed against him falling short. 
Would the fourth prisoner be equally, for- 
tunate Probably not, for the “ whip ” of the 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 41 

feathered missile was again heard, and it 
struck in a tree above the man’s head. A 
loud cry was now heard, and before I could 
prevent it, a girl was seen clinging to the 
fourth man’s neck. It was his daughter, a 
girl of about sixteen years, who with a leap had 
passed me, and had clung to her father’s neck, 
in the very path of the coming arrows. Simul- 
taneously with her cry came the archer’s 
second shaft, and it entered deeply into her 
side, and her arms released their hold and 
she fell moaning at her father’s feet. The 
last arrow flew high. She had saved 
her parent’s life, but apparently at the sac- 
rifice of her own. He flung himself on 
her body, and cursed and wept, and 
clenched his fist at the darkness that had 
delivered the arrows. But now the archers 
came with shouts to see the effect of their 
shots, and the girl was borne away, the 
father being detained only by a blow that 


4 2 the ad ventures of JOHN PAS-PL US. 

knocked him senseless, for he struggled like 
a madman. Then an Indian shot him as he 
lay, and laughed and said he could not miss 
him now. I had not been conscious of any 
feeling of compassion for these people. No, 
I felt an enjoyment of the excitement attend- 
ing all the proceedings of the Indians, and I 
looked forward with satisfaction to the pros- 
pects of the scenes of torture and death on 
the morrow. It may be strange that this 
should have been so, but I was animated 
with hatred against the settlers, because I 
had heard so much said against them in the 
camp. We like or we dislike according to 
our preconceived ideas, and the speech of 
others often heard and believed sinks into 
our souls and colours them with the hate or 
love that is generated by some prior experi- 
ence. All feelings arise from experience, 
either personal or got from other men. We 
enjoy that we are told by our elders we 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 43 

should enjoy, or that we see our comrades 
praising and appreciating. That which by 
common consent we are told we should 
despise, or for which we should have an 
aversion, is the thing we are inclined to 
detest. Teaching makes thought in the 
young. Our own pains or joys make thought 
in us as we grow older, and tell us what we 
should approach and what we should fly 
from. Cruelty to those beings which have 
no claim upon our feelings is the natural 
bent of man. To cut off the legs of living 
flies is an amusement to a boy. To see 
enemies suffer is the natural predilection of 
man. Even without enmity we naturally 
like to see the odd contortions of creatures 
in pain, unless we are told by feeling or 
experience that we suffer with them. Thus 
I did not feel any aversion, but a queer kind 
of inquisitive and anxious joy to see the 
writhings under the torture of these white 


44 the adventures OF JOHN PAS- PLUS. 

people, and wondered if their flesh would 
burn like the red man’s flesh, and if it would 
hurt them as much as it hurt the Indian. It 
was said that they cried out far more than 
any of my tribe would if they were tortured. 
Was that so } We should see. But in the 
night-time I dreamed one of my dreams. 
Behind each of the prisoners, as they were 
being prepared for the torture, I saw a some- 
thing stand just over them, one and all. 
That something seemed sometimes a mere 
luminous cloud, and at others it took the 
shape of the prisoners, but far stronger in 
form and very terrible in aspect. These 
luminous beings behind the crouching forms 
of the wounded captives were variously clad 
or coloured in shining and changing degrees 
of light, and the look of them struck terror 
into me. It seemed also to me as though 
each guardian spirit fixed his gaze on several 
of us, and it was borne in upon my under- 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN FAS-PLUS. 45 

standing that each would account a certain 
number of us as the especial slayers of the 
prisoner behind whom he stood, and would 
wreak an unutterable vengeance upon us. 
And dreaming thus, I was not conscious 
that I arose, but arise I did, and I passed 
out of the sleeping circle around the fire, 
and I gazed with my staring eyes at the 
warders of the prisoners, and these guards 
were taken with sleep also, and knew not 
what they did, and they were compelled to 
do as I did, and to follow me, and repeat 
each action of mine that I performed in my 
deep sleep. They came with me and I 
passed among the prisoners, and I loosed 
their bonds, and led them away an hour’s 
journey through the woods. And then I 
turned upon my followers, and willed that 
they should go to the camp, and I went on 
alone with those of the prisoners who could 
walk, the women and the children, and I 


46 THE ADVENTURES OF fOHN PAS-PLUS. 

became conscious, and awoke, and knew not 
where I was ; but it seemed to me that the 
dream I had dreamed was true, and that I 
should not turn, but should lead them yet 
further, and for another hour or more I led 
them away in the path that they knew, and 
I did not. Before morning dawned we were 
seen of the white men who came, and I 
allowed myself to be taken unresisting, and 
they wondered much to see me, white like 
themselves. The women were, however, 
clamorous in their gratitude, and wailed and 
sobbed, and had only a smile for me, — and 
thus I passed into the settlement of the white 
men, who were coming to join those who 
already lay slaughtered, though they knew it 
not, until told by their women, when they ran 
about getting arms, and started on the track 
we had made. And my nature seemed 
changed by the dream, for I did not desire to 
return to those who were on the war path. 


THE ADVENTURES OF fOHN PAS-PLUS. 47 

but remained with the white women, and was 
glad when their warriors returned bringing 
back the girl who was wounded with an arrow 
as she sought to defend her father’s life. 
But when she could not see him, she exclaimed 
“ Then he is killed,” and fainted, nor could 
they console her when she came to herself, 
but she lay for weeks between life and death, 
but her strength made the wound heal. She 
would speak only to me who had wished to 
save him, and found pleasure in seeing me. 
After a time she would also see a priest of 
whom I was jealous. Great was the joy of 
my new friends to find that she might recover, 
but I soon began to feel sad, for I could not 
understand the language of the white men, 
though I was even as they. But they were 
all so kind to me that my heart went out in 
gratitude to them, and it seemed to me that a 
powerful spirit yet lingered behind each one 
of them, as I had seen it in my dream, and I 


48 the ad ventures of JOHN PAS-FL US. 

wondered if behind me also there glided a 
strong Presence, and I asked by signs but 
received no intelligible reply. Even had I 
wished to go away, these men would not have 
allowed me. They considered me a prisoner 
whose soul as well as body must be saved, 
and much was I tormented with their too 
great desire to teach me more things than at 
first I cared to know. Perhaps it was the 
good food I found with them that took from 
me at first the desire to be back again with 
my ancient comrades. Strong food often 
taken makes the body and soul lazy. Man 
must fast and gorge to have the benefit of the 
full power of spirit and of body. Their food 
I liked, and their kindness was grateful to my 
body, but I cared not to think of any of them, 
except of that girl who had flung herself into 
the way of our arrows. Of my own folk’s wel- 
fare I did ask, and by signs I was made to 
understand that they had got back to their 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN FAS- RE US. 49 

own lands. And time passed and my meals 
were heavy and regular, so that I never fasted 
and my soul seemed asleep, and my dreams 
ceased, and lazily and indifferently did I 
marvel at the change, and asked if the Great 
.Spirit had forsaken me, for of old I was held 
in reverence for the dreams the Great Spirit 
sent to me. But I gradually learnt many 
words of the language spoken by the white 
men, which was the French language. Then 
did I find also that they had strifes and 
combats not only with the Indians but with 
other white men, and I knew by their talk 
that their chief whom they all obeyed was 
called Louis, and that the others against 
whom they fought had a chief called George 
and George and Louis were always quarrel- 
ling, although it was told me that these two 
men were far away from each other, and yet 
they quarrelled. They were also said to be 
far away from us, and yet their quarrels 


50 the adventures of JOHN PAS- PLUS. 

touched us. They were also said not to 
know and never to have seen the goods 
for which they quarrelled, and yet their 
strife was said to be bitter. Some said 
that both George and Louis wanted to get 
our Indian lands, but others said that# 
Louis wanted to be our friend, and that 
George would not let him be so. Anyway 
George was a bad man, and I imagined 
both George and Louis to be white braves, 
and was told that one painted his face 
and body a bright red, and Louis had a 
blue face and body, and the language of the 
last was much the easiest to understand. So 
I said I would be Louis’s man. Louis and 
George had not used arrows for a long time, 
indeed they had never been near enough to 
each other to use them, and they tried to 
frighten each other by carrying flowers, 
probably poisonous, in their hands, for Louis 
carried a lily and George a rose. Yet 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 51 

more. I heard, that the wampum they used in 
making treaties was a mark in the wax of 
the wild bee coloured red, made in the 
likeness of these poisonous flowers they 
carried with them in all their expeditions. 
Although their chiefs cared more for 
these flowers than for anything else, 
yet their people called them warriors, so 
they must, I thought, work with magic, 
and probably walked in their sleep as I 
did, when my meals were not regular. I 
was soon told that I was to fight for Louis, 
whom I wished first to see, but was 
told that was impossible, and that none of 
his people who were now to fight for him 
had seen him, so I concluded he was a blue 
spirit like the coloured spirits I had seen in my 
dream behind the white prisoners, and that 
it was only in dreams that Louis could be 
seen by his people. I was told that many 
Indians were fighting for him, and that I 


52 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PLUS. 

would be placed with them as soon as I had 
got a little more of the language, for I might 
have to bear the messages of one party to 
the other, and get more Indians to help 
Louis to kill George. So I talked to many 
and was glad when they told me that the 
young white girl was cured. Then I again 
saw her, and she was grateful to me, and 
she seemed very beautiful in my eyes, and I 
was very sorry to leave her to go to fight 
against George. This I had to do after 
staying in the white settlement some time, 
of which season I will only speak a little. 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS, 53 


CHAPTER III. 

The young girl who had saved her father's 
life on the night when my former comrades 
shot at him in the wood, their aim being 
guided by the fire which had been kindled 
near him, was the cause of my being recon- 
ciled to the captivity I endured with her 
people. Her devotion had been in vain, and 
her father had been killed. I did not speak 
of it. She became so stricken when she 
recurred to the event that I could hardly 
understand her. But she sought me out 
when she was stronger, and had recovered 
from the wound made by the archer, and 
told me she was grateful for what I had 
done in saving her and the others. I did 
not say that it was all because of a dream. 


54 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

Indeed I boasted often to others of my deed 
as though I had performed some very brave 
exploit. This boasting I had learned in the 
Indian camp, and I thought it becoming in 
a warrior to boast, especially if a girl’s ear 
could hear what was said. So she believed 
that she owed her life and the lives of her 
friends to me, and she sent for me, seeking 
me out above all men. She looked at me 
long before she spoke, and then she said, 
“ John, for I hear your name is John” — this, 
by the way, was quite new, to me — “John, 
you know what has happened to me, how 
the father whom I loved above all is dead. 
I believe you would have saved him, as 
you saved the others, but your wish, and my 
prayer, were not granted by God. Now tell 
me about yourself, and how it is that you, a 
white youth, were among the Indians, and 
pretend that you can only speak Indian. 
Why is this.'”’ “ I know not, O daughter 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 55 

of chiefs,” I replied, and in setting down my 
words I must be understood as setting down 
more the purport of my thoughts than of 
my words, for I could only speak in French 
in broken sentences, quick as I was to catch 
up the meaning of phrases, for I was young, 
and in youth the acquisition of language is 
easy. Besides, she understood a little of our 
speech, so that my language was mixed, and 
yet she seemed to understand. “ I know not 
more than you. I know I am white like you. 
It is no paint that covers my body,” and I 
lifted my tunic and showed my side. “ My 
body is white like yours, but I have lived all 
the years I remember with the red men, and 
I am as one of them. Yet now that I have 
seen you I wish to be all white in soul as 
well as in body.” Then I began to boast. 
I said, “ You are a chieftainess, and I used 
to be held as a chief, though I am young, 
but I can compel men to do that which I 


56 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

wish them to do. This power I have felt 
in me, and it was I who made the 
guards let you go, for power was given 
me over them. Perhaps if they had not 
obeyed my will and had not remained mute 
and still when I looked upon them 
I might have killed them, but it was not 
needed ; and it was because you were there 
that this power was exercised upon them. 
Often have my people declared they felt as 
though they were stricken when my eje 
looked into their eye,” and then I was grati- 
fied by the girl saying, “ It is true you have 
a powerful eye, as well as a brave heart, and 
that is why you must not be as those savages, 
but must dwell with us, and we will show 
you the ways and the thoughts of the white 
man. Great as you think your cleverness, 
and that you can do much by merely looking 
at people, the influence of my folk is far 
greater than that of any savage though he rise 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 57 

to be a great magician among them. For 
we possess all the knowledge of matters 
our fathers discovered, as well as what we 
have found out ourselves, and have lost 
little of the old learning, but have added to 
it. You know how much better powder and a 
musket are than the old arrows, so much more 
powerful is our knowledge to that of which you 
are proud. This will we teach you, and you 
shall be one of us in thought and knowledge, 
as I believe you are in blood and brain. 
“ And will you teach me ? ” I asked, wonder- 
ing, for she seemed so young, but yet she 
was far older than I in the wisdom of the 
white men. “ Yes, I will, John, I will teach you, 
for although you remind me of this sad time 
and of the death of my dear, dear father, 
yet you are pleasant to me in my thoughts, 
for you did what you could to make me 
happy, for you would, I know, have saved 
him,” This was not quite the case, but 


58 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

she looked so unhappy and thin and ill, that 
I felt that which I had never felt before to my 
knowledge. I felt pity, and the compassion 
that arose within me seemed a new feeling, 
for the impulse that had made me save the 
prisoners was a quick impulse, and different 
from this sensation, which appeared to me 
like an ache, as if someone had bruised my 
heart, or had broken a sinew somewhere 
within me that would not heal ; and this 
feeling kept on giving pain without any ex- 
citement to take it away. And I felt that 
anything this girl desired of me, that would 
I do, and that there was no fatigue or even 
suffering that I could not endure for her sake. 
Then my spirit seemed to search out her 
spirit, and to commune with it when I was 
not in her presence, and I thought I knew 
what she was doing and thinking, and although 
this was probably not true, yet it was curi- 
ous how, when we did encounter each other, 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 59 

her eyes always met mine, and how she seemed 
no stranger to me, and once she told me that it 
was to her as if she had known me long ago, 
and that the events of some of that time 
which had been so sad for her had brought 
back scenes of infancy in which she some- 
how fancied me to be moving, only that 
my presence was not as it then was, 
but was as a little child. It had even been 
remembered by her that she had walked 
long long ago with a child with eyes like 
my eyes, although she said that she now felt 
effects from the look of my eyes which she 
had never felt before. And she taught me 
to speak French, and she told me of her 
great God, but I did not believe in the 
number of little gods she seemed to have, 
for the Indian belief was in me that Manito 
is the one God, and that there is only One 
to whom we must pray for victory in battle, 
and that anything else has no power to 


6 o the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

defeat our enemies. But I loved to do what 
she told me when she commanded me to go 
to hear the sounds of the music her people 
made when they called on their Manito, and 
on his Mother, for they called to the Mother 
as well as the Son of Manito. The settle- 
ment of the white men was on the banks of a 
great river, a river so wide that the eye can 
only see the opposite shore on clear days, or 
from a little height. It was rather a lake, 
for the river received the tides of the sea, 
and was so wide that one could only see the 
mountain tops on the other side. And there, 
in the settlement by the shore of the great 
waters, there was a very big wigwam built, 
with a sharp tower in form of a pine tree, 
and in this tower were bells that were rung, 
and made a beautiful noise, unlike anything I 
had ever heard before; and in the great 
building attached to the tower the religious 
men wore beautiful dresses and sang the 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 6 1 

beautiful music that I delighted to hear. 
The settlement was quite unlike our Indian 
camp, for although we had a stockade and 
grew some corn, the whites had a much 
better kind of palisade, and ditches to defend 
their place, and their houses were many in a 
very large enclosure, most of them gathered 
about the big building they called the church, 
and their fields were in long strips, each 
ending at the water, and many of these corn 
lands were at some distance from the houses 
and the church. And I watched all their 
doings with much curiosity, and loved to 
hear the girl talk and explain matters, and to 
be in the evening taken by her to the church, 
for then the moon would make a bright path 
over the waters of the lake, and against the 
light of this the tower where the bells were 
hung would rise up dark and slender, and 
the roofs of the houses and of the church 
itself would glance with a sheen like the 


62 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PLUS. 

sheen on the water, only whiter, for the 
roofs were covered with little plates of shin- 
ing metal, and they were high roofs, and 
made to cover deeply the walls in which 
were the doors and windows pierced; and 
often these houses stood each with a corner 
built into the roadway, and not as with us, 
where all the wigwams are in the straight 
line, but set at an angle so that a window or 
two in each house looked down the path 
or street that lay between the rows of 
houses. This I thought done for defence, 
and thought that our lodges should be 
arranged something like this, so that each 
lodge should look down or up the line of the 
central avenue. We had many things to 
learn of the whites, and this was one of them. 
But I did not think that their houses were 
more comfortable than ours, nor did I like 
the open land so much as the wood. They 
were not so quick at learning how to orna- 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 63 

ment their dress or the interior of their sleep- 
ing places, nor had they the talent of arrang- 
ing porcupine quills in patterns of good 
colour like our squaws, who beautifully 
decorate our dresses, even down to our feet, 
and know how to dye the quills, so that they 
look better than any arrangement of beads. 
What most amazed me was their power of 
having many guns, for only a few old fusils 
had reached our nation, but here all the men 
had light strong guns, which could kill a 
long way off. Soon I also saw some of their 
men who do nothing but fight, and they came 
in a great ship, which had three tall pine 
trees in the midst, and on these hung the 
sails, and mighty guns bellowed thunder 
amid clouds of smoke from this immense war 
canoe. There were hundreds of men upon 
her, and a white flag was shown with those 
lilies, which, I was told, Louis their chief 
carried with him wherever he went. It 


64 the ad ventures of JOHN PAS-Rl. US. 

seemed that his braves carried these golden 
lilies also, but only as a picture on their flag. 
And canoes came from the big ship and 
landed hundreds of men, who carried knives 
at the end of their guns. And they made 
me go with them, for they said I would be of 
use to speak to other Indians whom they had 
got to fight on their side. And I did not 
wish to go, but they compelled me, and so 
after a few days I left the settlement with 
them. Before I went I saw my little white 
girl friend, and she gave me a medal, which I 
put round my neck. We marched many 
days along the river. These men were not 
fleet of foot, but they did not seem in a hurry, 
and at last we came to a place where there 
was a great waterfall, that leaped from a cliff 
down into a wide shallow pool, and then the 
stream that made the cascade joined the big 
river. And further up the country there 
seemed to be no end of the river, for it swept 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 65 

around a great island, all green, that lay in 
the middle of it ; and looking beyond this 
we saw a wide valley that scooped out the 
country, and then, far away, a hilly cape 
jutted out into the river, and on this were 
houses that glanced in the sun like the roofs 
I had seen in the settlement. Often the 
light on these was strong enough to cast a 
reflection in the wide waters at the base of 
the cliff where the current swept strongly 
down towards us. At evening and at noon- 
day a little cloud of smoke would curl away 
from the top of the cliff, and the sound as if 
many guns had been fired off all at once, 
would be wafted down to us by the wind. But 
I had seen the ship make such noises, and 
knew it was the discharge of what they called 
cannon. I was told that there were many 
more like those which made this loud noise 
upon the top of that flat-topped hill away over 
the water. Behind us where we now were. 


66 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

the cliffs shot down to the river’s edge from 
a tableland that rose into wooded mountains, 
much higher than any others in the neigh- 
bourhood, for the other side of the river oppo- 
site to us seemed at a distance to be com- 
paratively flat, and one could see a long way 
in that direction under the rays of the south- 
ern sun. And about the high waterfall and 
all along the cliff edge, and also at places 
further away, I saw trenches and armed 
men. It was here that I found also Indians, 
and although their speech was not quite the 
same as that I spoke, yet I could understand 
them and they me, and we had many talks 
together. Never did I believe there were so 
many men in the world as were there assem- 
bled ; they appeared countless as the sands of 
the river ; and soon there came more both from 
the land and from the water, for more ships 
brought more men, and the ships passed on 
after landing their soldiers, and remained 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 67 

near the high cape which was crowned with 
the towers and buildings I had first noticed. 
It was only a day or so after that when we 
saw many white sails coming up the river ; 
and a vast number of ships appeared, looking 
like floating snow-banks amid the blue waters 
of the stream. The wind brought them 
along until we could see them off the point of 
the island opposite to us ; and many of Louis’s 
soldiers that were on the island left it, and 
came across in boats to us. And then these 
new strange ships, which had flags with cross 
lines on them in red, sent away from their sides 
a cloud of boats numerous as the stars, and 
landed the men who were in them on the 
island. They were clothed in red. I thought 
they were painted red, but that was only the 
hue of theif clothes. They were white men 
in red jackets, and our cannon fired at them, 
and their big ships soon became hid in smoke, 
for their cannon fired at us, and I heard the 


68 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

sound of the great balls of iron that flew 
among us with a noise like the noise of rapids 
flowing past rocks. And soon they landed 
more men on the opposite side. Before 
many weeks had passed they had cannon on 
the island, cannon on the shores opposite, 
and fronting the cape ; and all day long these 
men shot their cannon-balls at each other 
across the water, until the town of the men 
on the cape burnt, and the smoke ascended 
to the sky, just like the smoke when a forest 
begins to burn. It seemed to me that the 
thunder of the clouds had made its home on 
earth, and I trembled, but soon I became ac- 
customed to the noise, which made the ground 
beneath my feet to shake; and I looked 
on at this fierce war, and delighted in the 
blaze of the flame of the great guns. But 
I lay down behind the walls of earth, or 
behind some ravine, when it began, for the 
rushing shot cut the air, and screamed and 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLVS. 69 

roared above us, and sometimes cut men in 
two. One morning, in the heat of summer, 
I saw three vessels towering over the waters 
come sailing near to the foot of the cliffs, 
and I went to the edge of the cliffs to see 
the pretty sight, for they were full of men 
in red; but, as I was looking, guns behind 
me, and on each side of the waterfall, began 
to shoot, and the ships again fired, and I ran 
back, for again the air was full of the sound 
of the passage of the balls, as though great 
birds were flying past my ears. But in a 
little time, unable to satiate my curiosity 
where I was, I crept forward, and saw that 
many boats were disembarking red-jacketed 
men below us. And now the little guns 
our men held in their hands began to crack, 
crack, crack, just like the trees in the wood 
crack in winter when it is very cold. But 
now it was as if millions of trees were crack- 
ing all at the same time in the frost, on this 


70 THE adventures OF JOHN PAS-PtUS. 

hot midsummer day, and the red jackets 
leaped on to our shore and rushed up close 
under a bank that seemed to give them 
some shelter, and they massed themselves 
into two great red blocks. Then men in 
front jumped forward waving long knives 
they call swords, and the others followed 
them with a shout I could hear even above 
the noise that the guns and the waterfall 
made, and poured onward, a red torrent. 
Yet as they advanced many fell, and then 
yet more, until the ground was covered with 
the slain and the wounded, and at last, just 
as they were near a line of cannon which 
were placed behind an earth wall, I could 
see through the smoke that the rush was 
stopped, and that the red torrent was flow- 
ing back. The ships made the echoes sound 
again with the fury of their cannon, but I 
could see the boats again receiving the men 
who got back to the shore, and they left 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 71 

rowing hard for the ships, with less than 
half of those who had attacked; and then 
one of our blue-jacketed chiefs rode up, and 
waved to me and some Indians who had 
been hiding in the ravine to go down to 
where the wounded were. We rushed down, 
and found that few shots were directed to us, 
and we ran among the wounded red jackets 
with our knives and we killed all we found 
breathing, and we snatched at their hair, and 
the scalping began and was not finished 
until we each of us had got a scalp as a 
trophy, when we climbed the cliff and 
showed our bloody tokens to our friends, 
who laughed. But soon a party of men on 
horseback came along, for now the firing 
had ceased, and the three ships that had 
come so near had allowed the current and 
the wind to take them away from the scene 
of slaughter. The man who rode foremost 
was beautifully dressed, as were also his 


72 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

companions. At last he came to us, and we 
gave a yell and held up to him the scalps of 
his enemies. But he rode close to us, and 
seemed very angry, and called out to find 
out who it was who had allowed us to go 
down among the wounded. One man said 
it was not he who had told us, and another 
said it was not he, and several more denied 
it. I, from my knowledge of French which 
had been taught me by the girl, knew what 
he said, and what the others answered. But 
all they said to him made him yet more 
angry, and he swore by St. Louis that it was 
a shame to the arms of Christians that this 
^lould have happened, and that “ ces sau- 
vages” should not have been prevented from 
exercising this cruelty. “ God will reward 
us for this, gentlemen,” he said, and turned 
and rode away. I asked who that man was, 
and the men near me said that was the Mar- 
quis of Montcalm, and that they did not like 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 73 

him so much as another great chief they 
called the Marquis de Levis. It was some 
days after the big battle in which the men of 
the chief Montcalm had routed the enemies 
they called the English, that a soldier came 
to me and told me that I was to follow him, 
and that I should probably get a present if I 
did so. We walked together past the stream 
of the tall waterfall and along a path that 
led towards the high cape with the city upon 
it. There was still much smoke always 
rising from the burnt buildings of this 
city and the guns on the top of its hill 
were always firing across at the guns of the 
English, so that in this place alone the battle 
seemed never to be finished. Elsewhere all 
was quiet, and there were large fields in long 
strips on each side of our road, filled with 
corn and pastures in which were cattle, 
and there was other grain grown that I did 
not know with a little yellow flower. We 


74 the adventures of JOHN PAS -PLUS. 

passed many small houses standing apart 
from each other, and then we came to a vil- 
lage like the settlement of the whites that I 
first knew. There was a big church, as they 
called the place where they pray, with a 
tower sharp pointed like a spear, and further 
on was a larger house built of stone, with steep 
roof that hung over the walls like the brow 
of a man over his deep-set eyes. But this 
house had many eyes or windows, and about 
it were trees and flowers. The soldier led 
me to the gate. I still wore the Indian dress, 
but as I had no paint on, I looked like the 
soldiers who came to meet me at the gate, 
and they seemed surprised at me, and some 
laughed, at which I felt very angry, and 
turned on one as though I would stab him, 
but they held out to me a little bag of 
tobacco and made signs of friendship, and I 
entered with them and was conducted into a 
room near the door that opened to the garden 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PLUS. 75 

I had entered. They said to me that I was wel- 
come to Charlebourg, for that was the name of 
the settlement. I looked out of the window 
and saw the land slope away below me to a 
narrow river that entered the great stream, 
and beyond the narrow river rose the cape 
with the town ; and the air was so clear that 
I could see all the houses and the windows, 
and the lines of wall on which the cannon 
were placed which shot out clouds of smoke 
every now and then, when the thunder of the 
discharge came to my ears some time after 
I saw the smoke come forth. Soon I turned, 
for I heard a step behind me, and I saw Mont- 
calm, the officer who was the chief. He was 
dressed in his blue coat with some gold about 
it, and was not a tall man. But he seemed 
resolute, and had a brave’s countenance, with 
eyes that could look on death unmoved, and 
a mouth that would not open to cry at pain. 
And he looked at me and remained grave as 


76 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 

a warrior should always be, and said, “ I am 
told that you speak French. Where do you 
come from?” And I replied, “From the 
settlement in the east near the ocean, and from 
the woods beyond where I was born.” “ But 
you are white like me, you are not an Indian ? ” 
“ I know of no parents but the Indians unless 
dreams be true, and sometimes I have dreamed 
that I remember that my parents were killed, 
but if they were white I know not.” Then 
the chief smiled, and asked, “ Who taught 
you our language? ” “ A little girl,” I replied, 
“ whom I saved with her people in a fight in the 
spring, and she has taught me, with others, 
and I learn quickly. Sometimes I dream 
that the girl is my sister, for we seemed to 
care about each other, and men say we are 
very like, but all white men and white women 
seem much alike to me.” Montcalm smiled 
again, and I thought that so great a warrior 
should not smile so often, and then he said, 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 77 

“ You do not seem to love all white men 
from the way in which you went with our 
savages to scalp tjiose poor wounded English 
the other day. Hark to me now. I desire 
to send you among other Indians to get them 
to come to fight for us. The danger is past 
for the moment, because as you have seen I 
can turn back the dogs, and kill them when 
they come to attack me. They have had 
enough, I think, for the year, but they are 
brave dogs who hang on to a man when 
they have once tried to bite him, and I desire 
more of the tribes to come and to fight, for 
we have too few of the men who know the 
country, and the Canadians are not numerous 
enough to make the victory as complete as I 
desire. Besides, they have their cattle and 
corn to attend to, and I want men who will 
explore the country and attack the enemy 
everywhere, should their ships not take them 
away again. To the south there are many 


78 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

more whites, and these may attack me also.” 
“ Many more ? ” I asked in surprise. “ I 
thought I had seen here all the white men who 
have ever been born.” “ No, you are wrong 
there. What is your name ? ” “ They called 
me John in the settlements.” “ And what 
was the name of the girl who taught you 
F'rench ? ” “ They called her Marie Huot, 

and she called me John Pas-plus, because 
when first I learnt French, I did not say 
much more. When they asked me questions, 
and said if John was my first name I must 
have a second one also, I said ‘ pas plus ’ 
often to show them I could speak no more, 
so ‘ Pas-plus ’ most of them called me.” 
“ Good. Then, Jean, I shall give you good 
presents, and make you a rich man if you do 
as I tell you, but if you turn against my men 
I shall know how to find you and punish you 
wherever you may be.” I was angry at this 
and said that I would do nothing unless I 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 79 

was trusted. He then told me that I was to 
enter into his service, and that he trusted me, 
else he would not have sent for me, and he gave 
me a knife, and a medal which I put round 
my neck with the medal Marie had given me, 
and said I was his man. I asked what he 
required me to do. “ I will give you a com- 
panion who has travelled much; and knows 
great part of the country, and you and he 
will go by the paths he knows, and you will 
take wampum with you, for two other men 
shall accompany you as your servants, and 
carry things the Indians value, and you shall 
travel and make treaties of friendship with 
other tribes, and tell them that if they come 
here they shall receive food and goods and be 
rich like the French. I will give them guns, 
so that they need never more be in want if 
they will fight for a time with me. I never 
break my promises like the whites to the 
south, the false English, whom you have seen 


8o THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

I can defeat. Tell them of my victory and 
that they need fear nothing. I will provide 
food and shelter for them, and they shall not 
feel the cold when they are with me, for they 
shall never be hungry. In your wanderings 
you will find that many will have heard 
already of me, for we have good men who 
have gone to stay with those tribes, and teach 
them French, as you were taught by your 
girl friend, and their hearts will perhaps have 
been made favourable to the message you will 
give them, for they will know that the God 
of the French is a God who will not allow His 
people to perish, but will give them victory 
after victory. Will you go, and become rich, 
and return a famous warrior to the settlement 
where Marie Huot dwells .J* ” And I prom- 
ised him that I would do as he asked, and 
said that I would bring many braves to fight 
for him, if he had not enough men already, 
and that I thought the red men would be glad 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 8i 

to fight for the men in blue jackets who had 
so many guns and could answer thunder with 
thunder. And he put his hand kindly on my 
shoulder, and said, “ Go, then, and God be 

with you, and I will make you a great man.” 
6 


82 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 


CHAPTER IV. 

Montcalm called and a soldier came into 
the room, and beckoned to me, and I went 
with him to the kitchen where the food of the 
house was cooked, and they set more before 
me to eat than I could consume, and I put a 
quantity into my wallet, thinking that we 
would start on our journey immediately. But 
it was some time before a tall man, dressed 
like a common white man, and not in the 
blue and brass- buttoned coat of the soldiers, 
nor in their cocked hats, came in. He was 
dark and tall and thin, and but for his beard 
and moustache might have been an Indian. 
In his hand he held his cap made of fur, 
although the sun was so hot now in the sum- 
mer time, and his jacket and shirt were of 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 83 

coarse make, and he had his long legs 
strapped round below the knee with bands, and 
he wore boots of leather, and in the other hand 
a long fusil. He wore a belt at his waist, 
and a belt round his shoulder, and hanging 
down at one side was hung a powder-horn, 
and fastened to the belt was a wallet. He 
had also a pistol or little gun in his belt, and 
looked round him and at me with a morose 
look I did not like. He accosted me with 
a surly manner, asking how soon I should 
go with him, and I said that I was ready 
to go at once, which did not seem to mend 
his temper. But after he had eaten a 
huge meal he rose and signed to me to come, 
and we went away from the pleasant village 
with its shady trees and along a road that 
took us up the wide valley along which the 
narrow stream I have mentioned ran at the 
foot of the ridge which ended in the cape, 
and all the land was full of sunlight, and the 


84 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 

scent of the clover and flowers in the field 
was in our nostrils as we kept on walking 
along the slope of the land, where on the right 
were the wooded mountains, and on the left 
the ridge beyond which I knew the great 
river must lie concealed by its long flat back. 
Then came we to another settlement called 
Lorette and there were many Indians about 
this place, and from among them my com- 
panion selected two who seemed to have some 
white blood in their veins, for they were not 
quite like the savages, and we marched on, we 
four, and struck to our left down to the narrow 
stream, then up the ridge, and across it, and 
there we saw again the great stream beneath 
us, and the fortress was down the river some 
way, and we only heard at intervals the sound 
of its guns, and at another village called 
Carrouges we found a canoe, and we four 
entered it, and took turns to paddle it up the 
mighty river. And so we travelled, stopping 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 85 

at night and making our fire, and finding no 
difficulty about food, for there were settle- 
ments along the banks, and we had money, 
and wanted for nothing. It would be tedious 
to recall all our stopping places and the 
number of days we voyaged, but we went on 
past lake and rapid, to another river, and 
ever keeping to the waters, of which there 
seemed no end, we kept steadily at work for 
three months, reaching at last country where 
we found no whites. Always when we passed 
any settlement we gave papers to the chief 
man according to the orders my companion 
had received. And these papers made the 
settlers excited, and made them send off 
messengers into the country, and they spoke 
of war and of sending more men to help 
Montcalm. At first they questioned us much 
and could never get sufficient answers, but as 
we journeyed they seemed more careless the 
further away we got. I trusted to the Cana- 


86 THE ADVENTURES OP JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

dian to tell me when I could carry out the 
orders of the French chief, but he gave me 
little opportunity, saying always that he must 
push on, and that the papers he sent out were 
sufficient, and that in giving them he was 
doing what was required of him. In truth 
my thoughts were far more with all I had 
seen in the camps of the soldiers, and with 
what I had seen in the settlement where 
Marie lived, than with any commands of 
the general. These I considered my com- 
panion was looking after, and that my 
part would come only when asked to 
speak to the Indians and make treaties 
with them. In parting from Marie my 
mind was so excited by the new position 
of being again set on the war path that 
I thought of little else, and was only sorry to 
leave her. Now that I had seen much war 
and commotion, the stillness of the bivouac 
brought her image back to my thoughts, and 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS, 87 

sometimes I thought her eyes were following 
mine in the darkness. They were eyes of a 
grey blue colour like my own, and seemed 
often to my remembrance as if they were 
searching my very thoughts, and could read 
them, and knew their intentions. And I 
who knew that I could compel men to do my 
will to some- extent when I liked, and when 
I felt strong, found myself powerless to will 
her to do anything. In that girl I had met 
my match as far as will-power went, and I 
felt that I could not have made her stand 
motionless as I had made our Indians stand 
doing nothing when I went away with her 
and her people from the place where my tribe 
had intended to torture them. These things 
I recalled when I lay with my feet to our fire, 
and my three comrades slept around me. 
Often I could not sleep, for the girl seemed 
present with me, and I fancied that I could 
talk to her, so real was her presence to me, 


88 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

and that I could ask her again the meaning 
of phrases, and take from her lips my lessons 
in the strange speech of the French. One 
night this fancy proved nearly to be the 
cause of my death, for I saw her so distinctly 
that, dreaming or waking I know not, I arose, 
and left my blanket by the fire, and wandered 
after her, for I thought she went before me, 
and I entered the wood, ever following her, 
as I thought. Then I stumbled across some 
fallen timber, and I awoke, shivering, for 
there was nothing round me but the forest, 
and with trouble I found my way back. 
Then one of my comrades, seeing me come 
from the wood into the firelight, and not 
seeing who it was, took up his gun and fired 
at me, the ball passing close to me, and I 
shouted out who I was, and was received 
with curses for disturbing their night’s rest. 
But I lay down with them again at the fire, 
and wrapped myself in my blanket, and said 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 89 

never a word. It was curious that when I 
thought of Marie, or on this occasion when I 
followed her appearance into the wood, it was 
always in my mind that she wished me to 
turn again to the east, that is, to go back to 
her. This was perhaps natural enough, yet 
she had never in speech denoted that there 
was any special desire of this nature existing 
within her breast. Her slight figure, oval face 
with its dark hair, and grey blue eyes, had 
always seemed possessed by a dignity that 
had often given me the idea of kindliness, 
but ever associated with a consciousness of 
her own superiority to me. This feeling was 
absent in the recollection of her that domi- 
nated the impression I conceived of her in 
these absent reveries in which she appeared 
to me so vividly. In these she seemed almost 
pleading that I should not go further to the 
west, and yet to the west my companion was 
always travelling. Perhaps it was the effect 


90 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

of my dreams, perhaps it was a reasonable 
reflection that inquired how it was possible 
that we could aid Montcalm when we were 
going so far away from him, and seeing so 
few who could possibly undertake a journey 
to join him, that made me speak out and 
murmur long before the three months had 
passed over us, a period I have mentioned as 
the total duration of our journey together. 
My dark companion assured me that he knew 
what he was about, and that he was faithful 
to his trust. At first he tried to persuade 
me that we had been making a wide half 
circle, and were not so far away as I believed 
that we were. But I told him, if he thought 
this he was mistaken, for I had watched the 
sun and knew we had been going very far to 
the west, although the course of the waters 
we followed made us deviate occasionally to 
the north or south. He would sit by the fire 
in the evening and bring out a chart of 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 91 

the country, for he told me that by this he 
knew his way, although he was travelling 
no unknown road, for the brave French 
pioneers had been here, and it was they, 
who had made the chart and placed upon 
it the rivers and lakes we were following 
or traversing in our canoes, and by it he 
could know where it was least difficult to 
carry across the intervening land the canoes 
to launch them again in other waters that 
would allow us to go yet further. We 
were under no necessity to return he de- 
clared, for he knew that those to whom he 
had sent messages would go and fight, and it 
would more profitably assist our friends if we 
saw yet others who lived in regions whence 
the furs came, for these furs would be of 
value to the army after the battle was over, 
as they could be sold, and by going further 
we should procure wealth in peltries. This 
man said his name was Fran9ois, and I be- 


92 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS, 

gan to conceive a great dislike to him. He 
was surly in his bearing towards me, and 
never changed so as to show any friendly 
feeling. Morose and sulky, he would seldom 
speak to me, who considered myself better 
than he, nor would he say a word except by 
way of command to the two other men. He 
would look over the papers given to him to 
distribute to the white men we might meet, 
and he spoke to the Indians we found on the 
way, but he never asked me to help him in 
these conferences, as was my right. Think- 
ing, however, that we should come upon 
other tribes with whom I should be called 
to act as interpreter, for he told me that I 
should be his intermediary in such a case, 
I trusted to him and made no complaint. 
When we had gone so far that there was 
little likelihood of this happening, I told him 
that I did not see the use of going further 
away. But he turned on me angrily, and 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PLUS. 93 

then seemed to think better of it ; said he 
would not quarrel with me, and that it would 
be for my good to accompany him. He 
even used fondling expressions, and declared 
that he had my interests at heart. I would 
return richer than by any action Montcalm 
had urged me to undertake if I only went 
with him. This continued to the end of the 
third month of our interminable paddling 
and carrying of the canoe. The other two 
men were dispirited, and thought with me 
that we had gone far enough. Fran9ois had 
one day done less than the usual share that 
fell to each of us of work in the canoe, 
and was, even for him, unusually disagree- 
able in manner and speech. One of the 
two men had remonstrated several times 
during the few days that had passed, and 
on this day of extraordinarily hard work, 
had asked why we should go on, and avowed 
his intention of turning with the other man 


94 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

and leaving us. The next morning Fran9ois 
was up before daybreak, poring over his map, 
and commanded us to get ready to start. 
The man who had questioned his purpose 
appeared loth to obey. Fran9ois’ eyes 
flashed, and he declared that he would 
kill the man unless he promptly obeyed. 
He and the man who dared his dis- 
pleasure were alike in feature, but not 
in character. Both had the half French, 
half Indian look that told of mixed blood, but 
Fran9ois w^as tall and well made, though 
lanky and loose limbed. The other was 
thickset, with a rounder head, and thick 
neck, denoting obstinacy. He inquired how 
long this was to continue : “ Until I tell you 
to cease doing my orders,” said Fran9ois. 
The man now said he would not go further, 
and his fellow looked as though inclined to 
support him. Fran9ois pretended that he 
was satisfied to give them a rest for the day 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 95 

and to talk the matter over. He went to the 
canoe, got a gun, and sauntering quietly up 
to us, raised the piece, and shot the man dead. 
The natural impulse of myself and the re- 
maining man was to retaliate, but our guns 
were at some little distance from us, and 
Fran9ois had complete command of the 
situation. I believe I preserved my calm- 
ness, but my companion was so horrified that 
he sat staring at the murderer with eyes half 
out of his head. When I had recovered my- 
self a little I said, “ Ah ! Fran9ois, how shall 
we now return, when we are but three, and 
the distance so great ? ” “ Return ! ” he an- 

swered wildly, “ Return ! Why not with three 
as well as with four ” and then, bursting 
into a paroxysm of rage, “ Ah ! you think 
Fran9ois a fool. No, that dead one there 
found he was not. Bah ! do you think I do 
not know my plans ? I can shoot one, two, 
three, as dead as partridges. Yes, Sacre, 


96 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

Nom-de-Dieu, you two, you shall both know 
that I go forward, and go back when I 
choose.” And so he ranted for a while yet, 
nor did I compromise my dignity by replying 
to him, but looked him straight in the face 
and said nothing. Then a change came 
over his mood, and he came to me, making 
as though he were sorry, now that his vio- 
lence had abated. “ No, I am sorry, I am 
sorry ; let me speak to you, Jean ; come now, 
see. We will not tell that fellow. He is no 
good ; but you, you are white, though you 
dress like a savage. I will tell you ; ” and, 
wheedling in manner, he came and sat down 
opposite to me, and fumbling in his pockets, 
he took out the map, and continued, “ I told 
you that we had done what the chief com- 
manded. Many men are on their way to 
join his soldiers, by reason of the papers and 
messages we sent out en route here ; but we 
Cjinnot go back before winter, and what kept 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PL US. 97 

me pressing westwards was the knowledge 
that at certain posts further on we shall get 
to places where the missionaries and voya- 
geurs have told me that there are quantities 
of furs to be got. These fetch high prices in 
the great settlements of the English, and we 
will go together and get more men and 
canoes, and we will take these furs down in 
the spring, staying in the unsettled country 
during the winter, for it is then alone that the 
best furs can be had. I tell you, war good, 
but furs better. We are now far away from 
the white men’s settlements. We shall see 
nothing but a voyageur or two and a priest 
or two working among the Indians. They 
say they work for the Indian good. Ah ! 
their own good may lie in the forests too. 
Perhaps they, too, are wanting the rich furs. 
Yes, Jean, we will go a bit further yet, for 
near us is a place where many Indians winter, 
and there is a priest there, and we will make 


98 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

him and them get us valuable skins, and then 
next year we go down the rivers. Not now, 
not as that dead fool wanted. By God, I 
would kill all such traitors as he ; ” and he 
sprung up in a renewed passion, and went to 
the corpse that lay with still bleeding head, 
and neck half twisted in the fall of the body. 
There it was, a dark heap of dark clothes 
and lifeless flesh on the sandy margin of the 
lake where we had ceased paddling for the 
day. There it lay with cold ash-grey face 
staring open-eyed at the waters whose ripple 
in the sunlight it would watch nevermore. 
The sinewy hands were clenched, one being 
on the place where the heart used to beat; 
the other outstretched and stiffening, as though 
still raised to ward off an apprehended danger. 
There the helpless body lay, and Fran9ois 
marched up to it in his renewed rage, and 
kicked it, and cursed it, and a movement of 
the body as it was spurned by the man’s 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 99 

foot made it turn its eyes on him, and the 
outstretched fist seemed to menace him 
as it also turned and was pointed straight at 
him. Then a shudder seized the murderer, 
and became back and again sat down opposite 
to me, and so near that I could see the sweat 
upon his dark brow beneath the matted black 
hair, and I said nothing, but looked at him, 
and he gathered up the map that had fallen 
near me when he rose, and carefully folded it 
and replaced it in his jacket, and seemed ab- 
sorbed in thought, and his eye avoided mine. 
But after a while he looked up, and his mood 
again changed, and he suddenly shouted at 
me. “ Why do you look at me like that? 
Why do you stare at me ? I tell you I will 
not be gazed upon by your horrible eyes. 
Has it not been enough that I have stood 
their stony glance so long ? And now you 
stare like that dead man, as if it was not 
enough, as I say, to have endured that snake 


too the ADVEHTtJRES OF /OHH PAS-PLVS. 

look these three months of our journey. 
Luckily we are coming to a place where there 
are others, and I need not be sitting each 
night like this opposite to you. Don’t look 
at me like that, I say,” he roared, as though 
he were being put to torture. And I, un- 
willing to anger him yet further, for I felt no 
anger myself, turned my eyes to the fire. He 
then began humming an old boat song to 
himself, and afterwards asked where our man 
had got to. “ You have frightened him,” I 
replied, “ and perhaps he will not return from 
the woods, whither he retreated when you 
went to the corpse of his companion.” Fran- 
9ois gathered the little ammunition we had 
together, and lay down upon it near the fire, 
and made as though he would sleep, but I 
saw that he was not sleeping. The next 
morning dawned to find me alone with the 
murderer, for our man had, as I suspected, 
deserted in fear of his life. Fran9ois was 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. i o i 

surly, and he and I passed down to the beach 
where lay the dead body with its clenched 
hand still threatening the empty sky above. 
There we launched the canoe, and paddled 
onwards, Francois saying that it was fortunate 
that we were near the Indian village he knew 
of. On the second day we arrived there. 
Many women and children were on the bank 
of the lake where the village stood, and we 
saw behind them a palisade and the cone- 
shaped tops of wigwams. Indians stood in 
groups about the spot where we landed, and 
the good will of the people was ensured by 
our dispensing with the few remaining things 
we had taken with us. Some hatchets and 
knives and powder helped us greatly, and we 
did not spare these goods, for Francois had 
declared to me that we must spend the winter 
here, and we desired to make as good an 
impression as possible on our new friends. 
Among their dwellings was one evidently 


102 the adventures of JOHN PAS-FLUS. 

built by a European, or by them under his 
direction. It was a plain log hut with a steep 
roof made of young poles, on which bark was 
laid. There were windows, though they had 
no glass as in the settlements, but paper to 
let some light through. There was clay made 
to fit in between the logs of the walls, and 
near this habitation stood a larger one, with 
a little tower and a wide door, to which my 
attention was directed at once, for I knew 
that this also was the sign of a white man 
being there. Presently he came towards us, 
dressed in skins which had been made for 
him by the squaws apparently, for they were 
well blanched. But he had a hat that reminded 
me of the hats worn by the priests at Que- 
bec, for that was the name of the cape where 
the big fight was going on with the English 
when we left. He was a little man, short, 
and very stout, for he had been more in the 
Indian villages than on war parties, and they 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 103 

had given him all the meat and fish they were 
able to procure. He came towards us quick- 
ly, with a smile on his smooth fat face, so that 
one tooth lifted his upper lip on one side more 
than on the other. Besides, his teeth were 
yellow, and not white as ours are, and I 
thought it would have been well if the squaws 
had had the washing of them as well as of his 
skin jacket. He took Francois by the hand, 
and shook it, as though he were wringing 
the water from some animal shot in the lake. 
Then he turned to me, and said, “ Ah ! what 
have we here } This young man compliments 
us by wearing the savage dress. I have the 
honour to salute you, sir. Come into my 
house and rest, for you must be weary. Ah ! 
have we not a fine town here ? ” and he swept 
the horizon with his hands, first with one 
hand, then with the other. “ Yes,” he con- 
tinued, “ I love this land, I love this people. 
You see the great lake in front of us, with 


104 ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

the waters laughing under this late October 
sun. You see the steep walls of the northern 
shore dropping down into the depths, clad 
with pine and fir, and bushes that blaze now 
with colour, whether they be touched by the 
noonday or the setting sun. So my love 
flames like these autumn bushes to this land, 
to this people. And you think a priest 
should be sad and grave. I cannot be so. I 
have the jovial spirit of old France still 
within me. Eh ! have I not } ” he added, 
giving Francois a dig in the ribs, to that 
morose individual’s great astonishment. I 
laughed at the little man, so unlike any priest 
I had ever seen in the settlements, and won- 
dered how Marie would have talked to him, 
and if she would have liked him or no. The 
next day was the Sunday that always sees so 
much beautiful dressing among the priests in 
Quebec. After he had taken us to his house, 
it was late, and he said he always slept early, 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 105 

and that he would hear our story to-morrow, 
and he left us to go among the people, but 
provided us with a good supper and place to 
sleep in. His merry face with the gilt glasses 
on his short nose, his chin so round and 
dimpled lifted up so that his prominent eyes 
might look the more easily through the 
glasses, made me laugh. My grim com- 
panion looked more gaunt and sulky than 
ever, nor did even the good cheer placed 
before us by the excellent priest serve to 
remove the cloud upon his brow. I saw the 
priest look at hiih and shrug his fat shoulders. 
He soon left us, but came again next morn- 
ing, which was the feast day, and day of rest 
kept by the Christians. He invited us to go 
to the little church to hear service and what 
he would say to the people. The day was so 
fine that he preferred to speak to them out- 
side, and mass was performed at an altar 
outside the palisade. It was new to me 


Io6 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

to see these things occur at an Indian village. 
The people sat in a half circle in front of 
the priest when he spoke to them. The 
chief was nearest, then the headmen in a short 
line behind him, then the braves of the nation 
were on the left of the priest, and these sat in 
ranks, while the remainder of the people were 
sitting in a long curved line. When he made 
an oration some of these smiled, others lay 
at full length, their elbows on the grass, and 
their hands supporting their chins, as they 
gazed gravely at the little man who, in his 
robes, stood there flinging his arms about, and 
speaking very earnestly. Above him the 
maple grove flung its leaves of fire among the 
dark gloom of the firs which here rose very 
high, their boughs standing out far above 
our heads in broad flat branches of verdure. 
The black robes of the priest made him look 
like a spirit men see in dreams, and the mer- 
riment on his face had gone, as had also his 


THE ADVENTURES OF /OHN PAS-PLUS. 107 

glasses from his nose. The sun was warm 
enough to make him wear his black hat, so 
that I looked on him, and though he used his 
arms in speaking to point to the blue skies 
and to the hills and woods around, I did not 
feel so much amused at his appearance a ; 
when I first saw him. He looked like a black 
stump of a tree that had been burnt come to 
life, and his voice was powerful and rang in 
the leafy roof that the forest gave to the space 
in front of him, and seemed to echo it back, 
until it rolled out over the quiet surface of 
the great lake behind him. His speech was 
quick, but I understood most of what he said, 
and he told us that vast as that water was 
behind him, which was before their eyes as 
they looked at him standing between them 
and it, yet that sea was nothing to the power 
and goodness of the Master he served, the 
one Manito that should be feared, and murder 
and all hatred to men was bad in his eyes, 


108 THE ADVE.NTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

and I saw Francois scowl and walk away. 
But the little priest never looked at him, and 
shouted for some time longer. It seemed to 
me he might have shouted all day, for he was 
fat and strong. Why should he not be fat, 
when he ate well, and his people brought 
him the joints of the great elk to eat, and he 
had bears’ grease for his head and face, and 
hair, except where he had a little bare place 
on the crown that made me think that some 
one must at one time have tried to scalp 
him. Yes, he had meat of birds of all 
kinds, from the great swans and geese and 
ducks to partridges and little singing birds, 
as I was told ; and fish, the big trout and the 
white fish ; and herbs and berries ; yes, these 
all they brought to him, as I was told, and of 
all he ate ; so why should he not be fat and 
speak as loud and long as the wind in a hol- 
low tree ? 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 109 


CHAPTER V. 

Soon the leaves fell, and the snow fell, and 
there was ice on the lake, and the fir trees 
looked darker yet against the snowy carpet, 
and some of the rocks were made beautiful 
with vast arcades of icicles, hanging in long 
streamers, or in thin veils from projecting 
ledges, so that the boys of our friends loved 
to walk behind the sheaves of ice spears, and 
see the colour of the daylight through them. 
We hunted elk and other deer on snow-shoes, 
and fished through holes kept open in the 
lake ice, and the clear bright days passed, 
one after the other, until winter had again 
departed, and the warm sun melted all that 


1 1 0 the ad ventures of JOHN PAS-PL US. 

reminded us of cold and of the merry sports 
and games, and of the stories with which we 
had amused ourselves in the field or by the 
lodge’s central hearth. Often the little priest 
used to preach, and often used he to visit the 
sick and the dying, and the medicine that he 
gave saved many from death, and all loved 
him, and believed that he had power from 
the God he was always talking about. I was 
often with him and learned all that he could 
teach me in the use of the drugs he had, and 
in the management of wounds and hurts. 
He liked me, but showed , that he did not 
care to be with Francois. Nor did Francois 
seek him. But with me he was anxious to 
be, and would talk and ask questions for 
hours, so that I seemed far more necessary 
for him than he was to me. Indeed much as 
I liked him, nothing in the way of admiration 
for him ever crossed my mind. The first 
impression made upon me never left me, and 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-EL US. m 

the oddity of the little fat figure and round 
face was ever present with me. Yet we had 
many serious discussions, arid he did not 
always love to laugh, though never a day 
passed that he did not show “ I’esprit jovial ” 
as he called his fun. Eagerness to practice 
his art of healing was strong upon him, and 
he would watch without wearying the effects 
of his attempts to restore health, and to 
banish pain. Some of the old squaws of the 
tribe were rather jealous of him in these 
matters, but he was always anxious to please 
them and praise them, and was willing to 
learn from them in exchange for the knowl- 
edge he was ever ready to impart. So the 
winter months glided past, and I became so 
much one in thought with him that I told 
him all that had happened to me without 
concealment, up to the day we met him, in- 
cluding that last tragedy of the death of the 
half-breed canoeman at the hand of Francois. 


1 1 2 THE AD VEHTVRES OF fOHH FAS- PL VS. 

The other man had never again appeared, 
and we knew not what had become of him. 
I knew that the priest had afterwards spoken 
to Francois of this deed. I knew it by Fran- 
cois’ increased dislike of the good man, which 
made me fear that some similar crime might 
be attempted on myself' and the priest, as we 
were the only witnesses. It was certain now 
that Fran9ois would not return with me to 
the east, and he was always telling me of the 
riches that he knew how to get in the west. 
I knew I could not return alone, and made 
up my mind to accompany him, for these 
things he said we could get excited my curi- 
osity, and life and youth were strong within 
me. There was but one matter in which I 
vexed the priest. He would talk to me as 
he preached to the people of Manito and of 
his son. Now I believed in Manito, and had 
heard from some of our sachems that he had 
a son, but I could not care to hear that there 


THB AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 1 3 

was any good in Manito’s son being killed for 
the sake of the tribes that were to come after 
him, nor that he could be killed, for we were 
told by our old men that Manito never died, 
and if the son was alive in the sky, how could 
it be that he was killed ? The oddity of the 
appearance of my teacher made me inclined 
not only to laugh at him now and then, but 
also to laugh at what he said, which was the 
cause of a curious thing happening to me, 
for after I had spoken like this I distinctly 
heard the voice of Marie, and it said, “ John, 
I believe ; believe thou also ! ” Nor would 
he believe in what I told him, that I had 
dreams that came true, but he acknowledged 
that my glance was terrible when gazed upon, 
and that it made him believe in the evil eye. 
But he would never use my will-power, and 
was astonished one day when I told him I 
could cure a man by making him will to do 
certain things. The man was cured ; but as 


1 14 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

he took the priest’s medicine as well as sub- 
mitted to my gazing fixedly at him until he 
was stupid and scared, we could never agree 
to whom the credit of his health was owing. 
My friend looked as black as his preaching 
robes when I told him Fran9ois and I must 
continue our voyage. He gave us his part- 
ing blessing, which all the tribe said was cer- 
tain to bring us luck. But it did nothing of 
the kind. Francois had had much to do 
with boats among the white men, and he 
procured a very large canoe, so heavy that I 
said it was no use, two men could not carry 
it far. But he replied that it was not for 
portaging past the rapids, and we should 
have no occasion to do anything but drag 
this canoe ashore for the night, for we should 
for some time be on the lake. This he said 
very roughly as though angry with me for 
asking, and he put a little mast in the big 
canoe, and a sail made of deerskin. I looked 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 1 5 

on, and helped him, although I now much 
disliked him. He had remained as much as 
possible alone during the winter, seldom 
coming into the village except in bad weather, 
and then never speaking to me except in a 
dogged manner, and with averted eyes, save 
only when he looked upon me angrily for a 
moment. But I had found that my glance 
always made him silent, and now he had 
asked me to get some medicines from the 
priest for the journey and I had got some, 
but told him that I knew now also all the 
wisdom of the Indian magic learned at the 
village as well as the priests’ cunning art of 
healing, and that but few of these things 
were required. But he seemed nervous and 
ill at ease, and kept on muttering and 
murmuring to himself. But we launched 
the little vessel and departed amid the 
farewell greetings, and as the spring winds 
were not always favourable we had much 


1 1 6 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

hard work to keep the heavy canoe against 
them, but when the breeze came behind 
us we found that we went fast owing 
to the sail of skin. My companion’s fears 
and mutterings seemed to increase day by 
day, although I did what I could to cheer 
him, not wishing him to become more dis- 
agreeable than he already was. One night, 
when we had as usual halted at a place on 
the rough and rocky north shore of the big 
fresh-water sea, his conduct became more 
strange than ever, for he first disliked to land 
at that spot because he said men were con- 
cealed there. And then he had refused to 
help to get fuel for the fire, and suddenly 
starting up when it had been lit, he pointed 
to the piled up rocks which lay banked up 
in wild confusion until they reached a preci- 
pice behind us, and trembled as he whispered 
that he saw enemies among the rocks. All 
that night I had to quiet him by keeping 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 1 7 

awake close to him, and was so w'earied that 
next day I fell asleep in the boat as we con- 
tinued our westward course. He seemed 
happier when away from the shore, and his 
terror at landing again manifested itself. 
“Look; what is that on the beach.? You 
will not land there to-night. I will not land, 
I tell you. Pas-plus; I will not; see there is 
the body of him I killed, down there at the 
water’s edge ; and his friends are in those 
bushes above ready to kill me.” I assured 
him it was but a bit of fallen cedar wood with 
its twisted branches that he saw that looked 
like a man’s arm upraised, but it was long 
before I could quiet him, and then when we 
had landed and lain down he was trembling. 
But I said, “ Be a man, and not a woman, 
Francois,” and he was silent for a while. But 
suddenly he rose shrieking, gripped his gun, 
and fired at something among the copse 
woods that grew among the rocks. The echo 


1 1 8 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

alone replied, but he was loading again, when 
I took his hand and calmed him, and asked 
him what he feared, for there was no one 
there. And beneath my eye he became 
quiet, but he told me that he was sure that 
the natives would kill him. I told him he 
knew the red men as well as I did who had 
been brought up as one of them. What then 
was this fear } But he was quite unmanned, 
and sobbed and trembled, and I knew that I 
had to deal with a madman. He was glad to 
get away from shore again before morning, 
and seemed brighter than I had ever known 
him while we were far from shore during the 
day, but when near sunset we must camp 
again all his terrors revived. He yelled that 
nothing would make him land. Then I 
looked into his eyes, and he shrank away, 
and I going forward to take down the little 
sail, heard a plunge aft. Francois had thrown 
himself overboard, and purposely weighted 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 119 

with his gun, he had sunk in those deep cold 
waters, never to rise again. Manito had 
taken him, and I put ashore alone, and gath- 
ered wood, and sat by the fire alone, alone on 
that wild coast, by the great water, with no 
soul to help me, and none near me save the 
corpse of- the madman in yonder depths at 
my feet ! I must sail on, I argued to myself, 
for there was as much chance for me as there 
would have been for him to get the peltries 
that he spoke of in the camps, which could 
not now be far distant, and my heart was 
resolute, nor did I feel fear. My resolve was 
to act, and not delay, nor to mourn my posi- 
tion. Onward, then ; and I dragged the 
canoe into the lake, and paddled out to catch 
the wind, and hoisted the skin, but before 
long I repented of this, for had I kept near 
the shore I would have been safe, but I had 
gone far, and the wind came in gusts from 
the high cliffs and blew me out even further. 


1 20 the ad ventures of JOHN PAS- PL US. 

Then I took down the sail, and did what I 
could to get more in shore, but the breeze 
freshened and laughed at my efforts, alone as 
I was, and the canoe was carried out ever 
more into the lake whose waves arose, so that 
it was all I could do to keep them from 
coming in. But the stern had now to be 
kept to the wind, for I saw it was no use to 
turn the prow to it, and fight against it. Per- 
haps I should be carried to some good shelter, 
perhaps I would find my death, and join 
Francois below the angry sea ; but battle with 
the wind I could not. It must take me where 
it listed. Ever worse and worse grew the gale, 
until I was wearied out in the endeavour to 
keep the boat before the wind. The storm in- 
creased towards evening. Drenched and sick 
with the strain, I fell asleep or lost conscious- 
ness still holding the handle of the paddle I had 
lashed astern to serve to guide the frail bark 
structure that continued gallantly to rise as 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 2 1 

the white seas came to her. But nothing 
more do I remember after the dusk had 
fallen, until a terrible oppression on my chest, 
a dreadful struggle for life had begun in me 
on my restoration to consciousness. I was 
no longer in the boat, but in a lodge near the 
shore, for the sound of the waves was still in 
my ears, and the winds were still howling 
overhead. It was long before I could speak, 
or indeed gather my thoughts. But strength 
came back, and I learned that I had been 
found senseless in the canoe which had been 
dashed on to a part of the shore where were 
little bays that took off the force of the waters, 
and that they who had found me thought I 
was dead, and marvelled at finding a stranger 
alone in a big canoe ; and deeming that I 
must be under the special protection of the 
spirits to be alive at all, brought me up the 
bank of the lake to their camp, and treated 
me generously and helpfully until I was 


I 2 2 the AI^VENTURES of JOHN PAS- PLUS. 

restored by the measures they adopted. 
Anxious to repay their kindness, when I 
went among them I inquired if I could help 
them in return, and told them that I had 
magic, and they said that they were gather- 
ing together by orders of a chief for a war. 
Thinking that they might have heard of that 
war which was being waged beyond Hoche- 
laga, down by the cape called Quebec, I in- 
quired if it was there that the war path would 
lead them, for there they might get gold in 
payment. But they informed me that it was 
not in the east that the great war they were 
concerned in would be, but that they, with 
confederated tribes, would march south and 
westward to the plains where dwelt the natives 
who had horses and cattle, and that it was 
the possessors of these that they desired to 
conquer. They thought that I must have 
magic knowledge from the white men, my 
brothers, and I told them that I had know- 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 123 

ledge of both Indian and white medicine, for 
I had lived with both, but my heart was with 
the Indians. And they answered that their 
people believed that a tall mountain near 
where we were was the abode of Manito, and 
that the most powerful magic man, if he went 
there and fasted, would derive additional 
strength to counsel wisely, and be able to lead 
to victory in battle, and I encouraged them 
in this faith. Soon taking up my abode apart, 
I gave out that I would fast a little in my 
lodge, and then fast yet more on the 
top of the mountain, reserving enough of my 
strength to ascend it, and return after com- 
muning with the god. And the priests’ story 
of Moses and Sinai came to my mind, and I 
thought that east and west are much alike, 
and the present day and the distant past are 
the same in the beliefs that all times engender, 
for the poor Indian thought as did the great 


124 ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

leader of the Jewish people, that on the hills 
God speaks with men. 

So I fasted, and when not far spent, arose 
and went up into the mountain, and there it 
was very cold, for the summer had not yet 
fully come. Alone I went up past the woods 
of fir and pine to the great mass of rock with 
a flattened top, and giant walls that seemed 
to forbid access to that high ridge set above 
the steep escarpment, and covered with a 
grey veil of snow, for the sun would melt the 
snow in the daytime, and yet it would often 
fall again at night. I wandered around the 
precipitous wall that guarded the platform 
which looked up to the skies, and found at 
last a narrow way where a vein of softer rock 
had become rough and weathered by storms 
and had decayed, and allowed a path for the 
foot of man over its ruins to the summit. 
Near the edge of the supreme cliff edge was 
a ledge with a projecting covering rock, and 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 125 

there I stopped and lay down and fasted and 
prayed for the countenance of Manito, visiting 
the platform for the purpose of the prayer, 
and staying in the rough cave to fast ; for I 
found it easier to eat nothing when I lay on 
my side. But the cold ate into me when I 
had nought to eat, and weakness, and faint- 
ness came upon me, so that I felt I could not 
return unless I did so soon, and go I must, 
even if no dream came to me. Then prayed 
I on the third day when I had drunk some 
of the snow for water and refreshment, as I 
crouched upon the mountain-top, and sun- 
light came to me, and I saw as in a dream 
the form of Marie, who seemed to beckon me 
down the hill ; but I thought this was but a 
temptation to withdraw from my task, and 
my manhood recoiled from being commanded 
by a woman, but a fever seemed to throb in 
my temples. Then, as I prayed, and looked 
out on the rolling clouds that were formed in 


1 26 the ad ventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

dense mists around me, shutting out much of 
the light of the sun, I saw as though crouched 
on the cloud a mighty form, gigantic, dark, 
and reaching from cloud to cloud. It was 
the form of a warrior stooping as though 
to spring upon his enemy. And I remained 
still and prayed, and the immense shape 
vanished, and there came a peal of thunder, 
though I had seen no lightning, and my 
knees shook, and fear enteted into my heart 
for the first time, and I fainted, and when I 
again came to myself I saw the morning star 
where I gazed, and I shivered with the cold, 
and the rock platform spun round me, and I 
thought I heard a voice saying, “ I am the 
Morning Star, the War God. I am Erinors, 
the giver of victory, and he who deals defeat. 
See the weapons that I give thee.” And from 
the sky there was the rush as of an arrow, 
and, lo! one long dart stuck into the scanty 
soil that covered the rock, just missing me 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 127 

where I crouched; and in a second’s time 
there was again the rush of a winged dart, and 
one came and hurtled upon the grim stone 
around me, but it rebounded and fell at my 
feet, and I saw the point was of glittering 
metal, nor did it seem blunted by the speed of its 
descent on the hard rock. And I wondered 
and gazed, and stretched my hand to it, and 
then there came another as though shot from 
one side, for it fell in a bush, with the plumed 
end of it visible as it buried itself in the 
thicket ; and then came yet a fourth following 
it, and almost struck me as it rattled on the 
rock at my side. Again the thunder shook 
the air, and a voice called, and it appeared to 
me that Erinors, the Morning Star, the War 
God, bade me take these, and defy my 
enemies. And the voice continued, “ While 
these remain unbroken thou shalt conquer. 
When lost or broken, thy nation shall perish.” 
Yet once more came thunder as I, weak and 


128 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

trembling, gathered them, and painfully made 
my way down the mountain by the only path 
that was to be climbed, either going up or 
down, and long it took me, for my knees 
shook and would not bear the weight of my 
body. When I was passing through the 
woods again many of the headmen met me 
and escorted me to the camp, where a great 
multitude received me, and I held up the 
arrows, but could not speak for weakness. 
Then they refreshed me, and I told them how 
these long arrows with the points of shining 
metal had been showered down where I lay, 
by Erinors, the Morning Star, the War God, 
and how I had seen him in the cloud, and 
heard him in the thunder, and that these 
arrows, his gifts, would give the victory if 
only they were not broken, but if through 
carelessness they were made to break the 
people who broke them would assuredly perish 
in the fight. And the people acknowledged 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 129 

I was a great magician and that they were 
certain I would lead them to victory, and 
asked that the enchanted shafts might be 
tried. But I would not allow this, but said 
that they should be carried before the army, 
and should be in the hands of myself alone, 
for I was the only mortal who had spoken 
with Erinors and had acquired the magic 
weapons from the sky, when his sign, the 
Morning Star, looked upon my face. Then 
took we counsel how best to further our 
design, and it was agreed that I with others 
should go to tell the nearest nation that victory 
was sure for I had the magic darts, and that 
we might perfect our combination with yet 
other nations, so that we might march in one 
great array to attack the people of the plains. 
So we set out, and keeping still near the lake 
as we marched on its southern shore, we 
came nearer to the lodges of those we desired 
to visit. And here before we saw the smoke 
9 


130 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN FAS- PL US. 

of their village we found men of their 
tribe, who were digging in pits, and we 
were shown the bright yellow metal they 
were getting from these holes in the ground, 
and, lo ! the metal was much like that which 
adorned the shafts of the War God which I 
had. I went down into the pit, for they had 
ladders and ropes made of fir tree roots, for 
I desired to see them working. They had 
hammers made of stone with a string round 
the middle of the stone where was a groove 
cut, and with this they hammered the yellow 
rock so that pieces were broken off, and these 
they wrought at with fire, and this metal was 
beautiful, but I did not show my arrows to 
these men lest they should boast that they 
had made the heads, which were harder than 
any they could make. At their village we 
were received very honourably. Entering the 
council lodge we sat in a circle, and fine pipes 
of the red clay stone, with long stems orna- 


; ITHE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 3 1 

mented with carving, were passed round. The 
tobacco was excellent, and as we sat and 
there was only one pipe with a very narrow 
orifice for holding the tobacco, so that it did 
not hold much and had often to be refilled, I 
felt impatient for the next time this should 
come round, and a whiff or two could be 
enjoyed. It was not good manners to hold 
the pipe for long, so our joys were transient ; 
but good manners are not transient with the 
Indians, and we passed the pipes after a 
couple of whiffs, and sighed silently for more, 
and hoped that the other great men would 
not be very slow. But it is a sensible white 
man’s proverb that great bodies move slowly, 
and these great men sometimes took a terribly 
long time to pass the pipe and whiffed very 
slowly, thereby bearing out the proverb. It 
was long also before we came to business, for 
as great bodies move slowly, so good thoughts 
are not to be picked up at a moment’s notice, 


1 3 2 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

and our business was important, meaning as 
it did the success or non-success of a com- 
bined plan whereby we might get glory by 
killing as many enemies as possible and 
getting into the comfortable places they had 
made for themselves. After at least two hours 
had been consumed in this manner, while the 
chiefs sat smoking and looking straight in 
front of them while they were waiting for the 
pipe, and never a word was said, a warrior, 
noted for his feats in war, rose with dignity 
and spoke. I will not repeat all he said, for it 
would take so long to understand that I might 
talk for a whole day in properly repeating it. 
Suffice it to say that he began with a long 
exordium of which the chief burden asserted 
the undoubted facts that the trees were green, 
that the sky was blue, that the flowers were 
numerous in the grass, that the needles on 
the pine trees were still more numerous, 
that Manito was great, and that the faces 


THE AD ventures OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 133 

of the ambassadors seemed to him to be 
(conjointly, I suppose) like the face of 
Manito. That a rumour had spread that' 
we were especially favoured of the War 
,God, and that one of the ambassadors was 
a white man, though learned in all the 
magic of the red men, and that his glance was 
victory. All this was what the whites irrev- 
erently call “ mere Indian palaver,” and I 
will pass it by; for it lasted a whole hour in 
the delivery. I liked it, but those to whom I 
now speak would not, for the substance of 
his harangue could only be gathered now and 
then, like the grains of corn in a lot of straw, 
but the pith and marrow of his intention was 
this : that a great confederacy of those who 
had but little to eat should devour those 
who had more and step into their shoes, or 
rather their moccasins, and live happy ever 
thereafter. This was to be effected by coun 


i 34 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PL US. 

cils in the woods, which would bring to 
nought any councils in the plains. That we 
might get a few allies from among the people 
who dwelt near the woods, and who had 
horses, and that these would be of great ad- 
vantage to us. We all grunted approval as 
this long speech finished, and I must say I 
felt very sleepy after it, but quite ready to 
employ any dreams I might have in the service 
of my new friends. These were particularly 
cordial to me, and allowed me more whiffs of 
the pipe than were allowed to any of the 
others. Two more chiefs spoke, but their 
talk was even more “ pure Indian ” than the 
first speech had been, and it is of no use to 
record the floral and zoological ecstasies in 
which they indulged. The weather came in 
also largely into their eloquence, and we all 
know that this is a subject in which tame 
man and savage can be equally ready in ex- 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 135 

temporary speech, deducing from rain and sun, 
and cloud, and stars, and especially the moon, 
much matter for comfort and prophecy. It 
was determined that the warriors of the 
nation should return with me on the mor- 
row. We rose at evening, when the level 
beams of the sun were striking on the hide 
tents, and I passed out of the door and 
wandered with attendant friends through 
the camp. Some feeling, I know not what it 
was, but it seemed to come in words, said to 
me, “ Turn to the second tent in the third 
row,” and I did so, and asked leave to enter. 
There was some hesitation among our com- 
panions, but this was only momentary, and 
we were welcomed silently. I lifted the hide 
covering of the oval entrance, and stooped to 
pass the narrow opening and went in, and 
there, close to me on the right, in a place 
where the sun struck at the hides so that they 
were half transparent and let a golden light 


136 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 

fall, what did I see? — a white girl asleep ! And 
who was she ? None other than my ever- 
recurring dream — my Marie ! She lay there 
unconscious that we had entered, in rich 
Indian dress, her fair hair flowing loose 
around her, her lips parted in a smile that 
showed her beautiful teeth, unlike the yellow 
teeth of the generality of the white men. 
Her eyes that were so like unto mine, veiled 
by their closed lids, and her hands gently 
folded together across her breast. I stood 
more astonished than when I saw on the 
mountain the gigantic cloud shape of Erinors. 
My knees again shook against each other, 
and I stooped towards her. She awoke, and 
started up, and held out her hands, and called 
me by my name, ‘ John,” and laughed and 
rose, and said “ Ah ! I knew we should meet, 
and they never told me you were here.” All 
looked up in silence, and then one said, “ Lo ! 
how like she is unto the white chief who has 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 137 

brought US the arrows of Erinors,” and I told 
them that this was great medicine, that she 
could do more for them even than I, and that 
we must be left alone together. 


138 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 


CHAPTER VI. 

There we stood, united again for a time, and 
as the sunlight died out, and the glow from 
the few sticks on the lodge floor lighted up 
our faces, my eyes looked into hers which were 
so like my own, and she gave me her hand and 
told me she was glad I had come. There was 
much to explain on both sides, nor would she 
be content until she had heard how it was that 
fate had brought me to her lodge. Then she 
concealed not that she had not been able to rest 
content where she had lived so long, but felt 
that she must follow me, and so travelled 
westward with a companion and two servants; 
but had only traced me a certain distance. 
She had then gone more to the south, had 
crossed the waters at Detroit, and journeyed 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 139 

westwards. There had been none to hinder 
her departure, for her parents were long 
since dead, and she was so regarded in the 
settlement that what she wished was law. 
Besides, she had told them that her going 
had the consent of the authorities, who 
thought she might help in raising Indian 
tribes to assist against the English. But her 
heart was divided between the wish to carry 
out some plan of this kind, and her desire to 
find me, “for though you scarce troubled 
yourself to say good-bye to me, John, I de- 
sired that you should not again become as 
the Indians.” And then I assured her it was 
only because I so feared to face the parting 
from my beloved? instructress that I had not 
cared to go to her for the farewell words. 
But how had she found her way, and when 
had she left ? “ Oh ! soon after you left I 

went also, and there was no trouble about 
the way, for the voyageurs knew all the 


140 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

roads between this and the Gulf of Mexico, 
uninhabited as the land is by any save the 
savages. We wintered in the south of the 
great lake, while you passed the season on 
the north side; and besides women, there are 
men who care not to engage in the fierce 
war when the cannon and guns are thunder- 
ing, and who like a little buying of furs on 
their own account better than the turmoil 
between contending armies, whose strife 
makes their absence little observed. I always 
felt I was on the right track, and that I 
should come across you, and now you will 
return with me.” But I told her I had be- 
come learned in wisdom and pharmacy as 
well as in the Indian lore, and that I had 
promised to assist the tribes around us in the 
conflict with the people of the plain, and re- 
lated the adventure of the mountain. And 
she shook her head sadly, and pitied me for 
being under such delusions, and asked if the 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 4 1 

good priest of whom I had told her had not 
put more wisdom into my heart, since her 
own teaching had not been sufficient to do it. 
Then laughed I at the recollection of the 
little priest, and told her that he too had 
spoken of the Saviour she believed in, but I 
believed in Saviours who led armies to battle, 
and cheered the spirit of the warriors, and 
that I myself was regarded as a Saviour since 
the arrows had been given to me on the 
mountain. And as I said this I pulled from 
my quiver one of the arrows, and, lo ! the 
bright metal on its barbed point seemed to 
blaze and sparkle as we gazed on it, and she 
drew back in horror from the cruel thing, 
and exhorted me not to trust to such arms 
alone. But I felt so strong in my conceit 
that I said a man’s right arm and his war 
spear and arrows were the best Saviours, and 
then came others to tell me my lodge was 
prepared, and asked of the movements for 


1 4 2 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

the morrow, and I gave orders, proud of 
doing so before Marie, and said we must 
march before daylight. So leaving her, she 
saying that she would follow me, I passed 
out, and slept, and on the morrow came again 
to the camp near the mountain where were 
many gathered with the men I had brought. 
And each day thereafter came more, until 
many fires sent smoke up so thick each 
evening that there was a blue cloud above 
the woods on the south shore of the mighty 
lake, and it hung a belt of vapour about the 
slopes of the steep hill whose summit I had 
climbed. Each day that followed was occu- 
pied with the long councils of the chiefs, but 
they were all so like each other that each 
consultation produced only many speeches 
after they had sat for a while thinking how 
to begin, so that I wearied of them, and felt 
that my heart mocked them, and longed for 
action. Action was what was needed, I said. 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 143 

whenever I appeared among them, and the 
arrows were each time shown as augury of 
success. Finally, the smoking and talking 
that seemed so endless were concluded, and 
the van of our army set out, gorgeously 
arrayed, and each man in full war paint, for 
the south. We said not farewell to the 
women, for farewells make men weak. Still 
on our march we were joined by others, 
notably of that tribe on the border of the 
plains that possessed horses. To be sure 
we could walk faster than the horses, but 
they for a longer time could run without 
losing breath. So our array came to the 
Plains, where the grass was long and green, 
and there were masses of yellow lilies with a 
colour like the colour of that metal I had on 
my arrows. Over the green and the gold in 
the grasses the long bright column marched; 
the trampled grass lay behind them, and it 
was easy to see from a distance where they 


144 '^HE adventures OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

passed. But above the gaudy columns, the 
spear heads shone and flickered, and the 
horsemen spread out far in front, so that we 
could only see them now and then as the 
swell in the great green sea of the plain was 
crested by a horseman, or when our columns 
rolled up one of these inclines, and paused to 
look ahead, before they descended into the 
wide and shallow intervening hollows. One 
hot noon, a rider came galloping his horse 
back to the main body of the army with a 
command to halt, for there were buffalo 
ahead. I had never seen these animals, and 
knew them only from the paintings I had 
seen made of them in red lines on white skins, 
and was very desirous to see one, for they 
were said to be like the bulls around Quebec 
and the white settlements, but black, and 
more like an evil spirit, holding their heads 
down and never looking up. But much as I 
had heard of them, ft was impossible to 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 145 

imagine the sight that now met our eyes. 
Advancing to the gentle ascent from which 
the advanced guard had retired on beholding 
the buffalo, it was possible to see a great 
distance, and indeed, as far as the eye could 
reach, there was an army of these beasts 
covering the ground, so that it was only here 
and there that the green grass could be seen 
among the enormous herds. The very earth 
seemed alive, nor have I ever seen such 
multitudes of living things, no, not even when 
an ant hill is levelled, and the insects swarm 
out. Ants in vast numbers are alone to be 
compared with these hordes of big cattle. 
Thick as mosquitos rise from the wamps, so 
did these animals swarm on the plains, and 
there was no limit to them. When there were 
such hundreds of thousands moving, it was 
only in the nearer groups that the individuals 
could be distinguished. Elsewhere like black 
sand shifted by the winds, they moved but 


146 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

it was only the motion of the mass that could 
be discerned. Rapidly the plan for killing 
some was formed, and the horsemen spread 
themselves out under cover of the slope, and 
then at a signal galloped to its crest and over 
it, and on to the flanks of the mighty mass, 
and shot their arrows as they came close 
alongside of the foremost individuals. Yes, 
they shot and shot until quiver after quiver 
was empty, and many dark carcases lay on 
the confines of the herds. So eager were our 
horsemen at this work, that they saw not that 
on the horizon there was more commotion 
among the herds, and another movement, as 
the black atoms in the mass moved in a 
different direction from that they took before. 
But our army, which had now crested the 
slope, saw the amazing sight with less im- 
mediate fascination, and had looked over the 
heaving backs of the buffalo army, and there, 
far away, they saw the cause of the new 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 147 

movement. The buffalo had other enemies 
upon them, and a far stronger force of horse- 
men than ours, nay, outnumbering ours ten- 
fold, was evidently at work, as we had been, 
slaughtering the animals fast and furiously. 
Had their men caught sight of us ? It was 
impossible to say, but presently we thought 
they had, and we sent all our men except the 
hunters, who could not hear any commands, 
back behind the ridge. Our mounted men 
were now compelled to collect their arrows 
from the dead beasts, for they had no more 
fresh darts to shoot, but they toiled on, still 
unconscious of any other hunters being intent 
on the same work. At last, however, a keen- 
sighted hunter among our horsemen did 
catch sight of one of the strangers in the 
distance, across the moving masses that 
separated them, and his cry of alarm awoke 
the attention of his comrades, but so dispersed 
were these that it was long before they could 


148 THE ADVENTURES OF /OHN PAS-PLUS. 

be collected. It was evident that the enemy 
had seen us, and we held a council what it was 
best to do. It was quickly determined that, 
our infantry remaining concealed, we should 
show only our small force of horse, which 
should continue to kill the buffalo, but 
when the great body of the enemy advanced, 
should make off, as though in full flight, to 
the entrance of a slight hollow that led past 
the swell of the prairie towards the centre of 
our army, and that when they had passed, if 
they did pass, we should close in on them 
with the foot. To make it possible for our 
unmounted troops to deal death among so 
numerous a body of horse as we now saw that 
they possessed, we had recourse to a stratagem. 
We believed they would come on boldly, 
thinking our number but small, and along the 
inner side of the hollow down which they 
would ride we knotted the long grasses 
together, leaving their roots in the soil. A 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 149 

handful or two of these, especially where 
tangled with the wild pea or vetch, made a 
good strong rope, which could not be seen at 
a little distance. The plan succeeded per- 
fectly, for the enemy drew together in strong 
bands, and nearly one thousand of them came 
galloping towards our little troop, uttering 
cries, and, quickly as our men got together, 
several were too late, and were only just 
ahead of their pursuers, when on both sides 
our men on foot ran forward, and at the same 
instant the knotted grasses told on the horses 
of the enemy, who fell in scores, our own men 
doing the same unfortunately, which caused 
some loss, for the enemy turned on them 
before they themselves felt the spears and 
knives of our ranks, who poured quickly down 
upon them. The fight was very hot, but our 
number told, together with the confusion in 
which they were thrown from their fall with 
their horses. But few escaped. Then, while 


150 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 

we were still fighting, a movement of the 
buffalo brought them towards us, and the 
foremost masses of the herd tried to stop, 
but could not for the pressure behind, and 
part of the battlefield with the wounded was 
trampled over ; but now all the foot and all 
the horse that remained rained such a fire of 
arrows on the beasts that their dead bodies 
became a wall. That made their remaining 
multitudes swerve, and we continued un- 
satiated to kill them until overcome with 
fatigue. And there we camped on the great 
rolling plains, which were like to the lakes I 
had passed in their immensity, and in that 
the sky was seen to meet the horizon which 
swept around us without change, but the sur- 
face was not flat but wavy, like the sea after 
a storm is passed, and the swell remains to 
lift itself slowly against the shore. But here 
the space was wide between each green wave, 
so that a man might wander away, and soon 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 5 1 

lose sight of camp, and know not in what 
direction to turn to find it, unless he could 
read the stars or knew the motion of the sun. 
There we remained and feasted for some days 
on the buffalo we had killed and that our 
enemies had killed, for they, knowing the 
greatness of our army, and accustomed to be 
behind their earth -walls in war, would not 
come to attack us. Only we saw sometimes 
one of their horsemen, but he w'as quickly 
chased away. Our spies brought us know- 
ledge of our foe, and told us how he lay in a 
great place surrounded by high green earth- 
walls that stretched far along the plain, and 
that these walls were so high, and defended 
by a ditch so deep, that it would be hard for 
men to climb up them. Our young men were 
anxious, after a time, to be led on, but our old 
men were always more inclined to smoke and 
talk before they adventured any great deed ; 
and I, thinking of the power of the War God, 


152 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

the Morning Star, Erinors, thought that it 
would be best to use magic, and taking a 
great rough stone that lay near the camp, I 
carved thereon the star, and a buffalo, and a 
deer, to show that the might of the God 
would be at our hand when we fought the 
great battle of the west in the land of the 
buffalo, and that our limbs should have the 
speed of the stag, and four long arrows also I 
carved on this stone, in token of gratitude to 
the God who gave me the weapons that must 
prevail. And so we prepared ourselves, and 
fed on the meat that we might be strong, and 
bathed in a little lake that was there after we 
had heated stones and poured water on them, 
so that before bathing we might stand over 
the heated stones and perspire, for this was 
good for the health, and was always found to 
make men feel strong. Then we ordered 
that the army should hold itself in readiness, 
and, marching through the night, should 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PL US. 153 

attack at dawn, when the enemy might be 
taken by surprise, thinking that, as we did 
not attack for so long, we might not make 
the assault at all. The tribe that was to lead 
the way was that one I had brought first to 
the camp by the mountain, for these warriors 
had, by the counsel of Marie, who taught 
them many things while she abode with them, 
made themselves plates of the yellow metal 
wherewith they pointed their arrows. These 
plates they attached in pieces to their breast 
and belly, so that as they marched the sun 
glanced on the metal, and made them terrible 
to look at, and no arrow could hurt them if it 
first struck upon these plates. Now, as it was 
not possible to approach the entrenchments 
unseen except at night, and as the ground 
around could not hide us from watchers on 
the height of their embankments, it was 
ordered that this tribe should be divided into 
two, and that each part was to lead a separate 


1 54 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

assault, so as to confuse the enemy. Thus 
we set out, guided by the stars at night, and 
there was little heard in our ranks but the 
neigh of a horse here and there, and this was 
soon stopped, for the horsemen were told to 
go to the rear for at least a mile, and to come 
up only when they heard shouting and noise 
of war at dawn. The faint sound of the 
many feet brushing through the grass was 
then all we heard as we marched onward, and 
at dawn, lo ! before us lay a vast green wall 
stretching far to the right and left, yet was 
our army so numerous that when it spread 
out it lapped over the front of the width of 
the wall that lay towards us, and the wings 
advanced more rapidly than the centre, so 
that they might attack in time on the flank 
as well. The sun rose, reddening the sky, 
and the great wall stood high in front, and 
along its huge crest the war spear standards 
of each tribe that camped within stood on the 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 155 

rampart. These at first alone caught the eye 
as it ranged right and left in search of the 
enemy. But now an outpost of their horse 
gave the alarm, and galloped away so as to 
place the fortifications between ourselves and 
them. By this we thought there must be 
some entrance for horse on the other side, 
and our right wing was made to run in 
pursuit. Then suddenly the long wall’s crest 
became alive with men, and a shout of 
defiance went up, and we yelled back our 
challenge to battle. The leading tribe with 
the metal breastplates rushed on in their two 
divisions about three bowshots asunder, and 
behind them poured all our spears, the bow- 
men already preparing to shoot. Looking 
along our charging line I felt maddened with 
pride and lust of combat, and was first at the 
side of the great deep ditch into which I 
plunged, an arrow whizzing by my ear. The 
ground shook to the charge of our men, and 


156 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

the ditch was soon filled with them. But 
here they became too crowded, and the darts 
of the foe came like hail, and yells and groans 
showed how many fell. Yet I hardly knew 
of this at the time, and it is with difficulty I 
can recall what happened. We climbed on 
each other’s shoulders, and laid hands on the 
earth wall, and climbed, and fell back, and 
climbed again. Among those who succeeded 
in springing on the sloping sides that sur- 
mounted the perpendicular wall of the ditch 
I was foremost, and I rushed at crowds of the 
enemy. Strange to say, wherever the place 
seemed least crowded and affording a chance 
for our men, the form of Marie glided before 
me, not as she appeared to my sight at other 
times, but unsubstantial, like a white ghost, 
and I raged because I could not follow her 
fast enough, as man after man went down 
before my blows. And when there was a 
second’s breathing space I fitted my magic 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 157 

arrows and sent them among the foe, seeking 
especially to kill those who seemed nearest to 
the incomprehensible, mist-like, waving, slen- 
der form of Marie, and they went down as 
though struck by lightning, and I loosed the 
bowstring over and over again, and yet one 
of the magic arrows was always on the string, 
and I shouted that they came back to the 
bow after they had slain each time their man. 
Yet if this was so I know not, and little know- 
ing what I did I may only have shot at those 
nearest me, and plucked the shaft forth again, 
for Marie’s shadow seemed ever just in front 
of me, as I rushed here and there, but soon she 
led me back to the ditch and disappeared, 
and I saw her no more, as I sprang into it to 
gather the courage of those of our men whom 
I saw cowering there, and inspire them to 
advance, for I could tell them that the crest 
was not so deadly when I had come back 
alive after killing many. But now I found I 


1 58 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PLUS. 

had only two of the arrows, and Erinors, the 
War God, had made it understood by me in 
my trance on the mountain, that if the en- 
chanted shafts were broken or lost, defeat 
would follow the nation that allowed them to 
be so defaced and ruined. Then thought I 
in anguish how this could have happened, 
and I fancied that as I was only half conscious 
in my rage in battle what was being done, 
some others must have taken my arrows and 
used them, and broken or lost them, and I 
grieved, and prayed to the men below to 
return with me, but they would not. I told 
them of the arrows that lay there that would 
give victory through the promises of the God 
Erinors, and they looked at me, as though 
they deemed my magic of no avail, and then 
a spear struck me on the arm and my hand 
dropped, nor could I use it to climb again, 
but tried still to get others to mount, offering 
my shoulder, but they would not, but stood 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 159 

like buffaloes to be killed. Then sprung I 
towards one I knew and bade him take my 
bow and the two remaining arrows that had 
come back to my bow as I thought, and he 
took it and drew the bow well and strongly, 
and sent the arrow with its golden gleam on 
its passage, and it slew a leader on the ram- 
part, but came not back as I had hoped. 
Then took I the last of the four arrows, and 
with it also a chief died, but, alas ! all four 
shafts were now gone ! Now the ditch was 
full of blood, and corpses lay thick, and the 
wall had only been scaled by a few hundreds 
who had been killed on its crest, and then 
the shouts of the other column died away, 
and a panic seized our men, and though I 
cried and threatened they gave a yell and 
leaped out of the ditch, and ran back far 
faster than they had come. It was heart- 
rending to retreat, but what can a few do 
against many } We were beaten, and it was 


1 6o the ad ventures of JOHN PAS-PL US. 

best to retire while we could make good our 
own camp. So all the unwounded men were 
soon at a distance from the looming rampart, 
and then the enemy’s horse circled round 
their walls, and came to jeer us, but in a mo- 
ment our horsemen came and swept back the 
shrieking foe, and the retreat was not inter- 
rupted. We arrived sad and savage at our 
camp, and placed outposts. In the hurry and 
confusion of the fight on the slope of the 
mound, some of our men had torn down a 
few of the enemy into the ditch, and these 
men we brought away prisoners. Before they 
were put to death they mocked us, but con- 
fessed that many of their own people had been 
slain by our arrows, for the archers had inces- 
santly plied their fire while the enemy exposed 
themselves above their walls. But in con- 
fessing this the dying prisoners mocked yet 
the more, saying that though some were 
killed, they could well afford them, for they 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 1 6 1 

would be buried in the mound, and their 
spirits would make the wall yet stronger. 
The army that had - repulsed us sallied not 
out to attack, and we lay in camp and ate of 
the buffalo, and dried much of the meat'over 
fires of turf, grass, and buffalo dung, for wood 
was scarce in those parts. Some women 
joined us from the camp near the mountain, 
and among them came Marie, sad and tearful 
at the slaughter where her friends had suffered 
much, and where their breastplates had availed 
them little. And she reproached me sadly, 
and I told her that I had thought of her even 
in the combat, for I had seen her spirit, and 
she wondered not, but said only quietly, “ I 
was with you in the spirit.” 


i 62 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 


CHAPTER VII. 

By- AND- BY came all the women and children 
and others who had been left at the mountain. 
I sought Marie. “Yes, I was with you in 
the battle, and knew that you would be de- 
feated, and that the enemy would triumph 
over you.” “ How could you know that, 
Marie } Did I not tell you that the Morning 
Star was with me ? ” “ It was because you 

put your faith in false gods that you were 
crushed. O ! John, why not believe in the 
one true God, and in his Son, and the Holy 
Mother, who can alone assist you.” “ Nay, 
I will believe as they believe among whom I 
was brought up, in one Great Spirit alone, 
who allows other spirits to reign over war and 
pestilence, and things of good or evil, that 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 163 

make man happy or destroy him, and when 
your God can he seen as can the War God 
on the tops of the mountains, then only will 
I think you are right.” “ Then will destruc- 
tion come upon you.” “ But has not evil 
overtaken you, who saw your father shot at, 
and who died although you tried to save him, 
when you yourself were wounded ? Ah ! No, 
don’t speak to me of that which has failed. 
Gods are the friends of the victors, not of the 
vanquished.” “John,” she said solemnly, 
“ the only comfort I knew after that terrible 
time was to speak to the priest of our holy 
religion.” “Yes, I know you spoke much 
with him, and what good did he do you ? He 
could not save your father from the surprise. 
It was not He that saved you from the torture 
they meant to kill you with. It was I, I 
alone, Marie ; and my dreams led me to do 
so, when I had never heard of your deity.” 
“ Nevertheless it was He who put it into your 


i 64 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

heart to rescue me and the others that dread- 
ful night. He is a God of mercy, while yours 
is nothing but a spirit of terror and war.” 
“ Nay, anger me not,” I said, “ for I am better 
than your priest, who has never talked with 
his divinity, or heard him speak in the thunder. 
Who has ever heard that he has given weapons 
to his people, weapons that always kill, and 
ensure victory until they are broken or lost ? I 
tell you it was because I let the man near me 
handle the magic darts that we lost the day, 
and that the ghosts of our friends are now 
lamenting on those ramparts.” “ I know not 
what you saw, John, but sure I am that some 
evil spirit has been playing with your brain, 
and that anger and hatred may come from 
your trances, but not the power that can heal 
the hurts of the heart, and make joyful the 
ways of men.” Then I felt yet more obstinate 
and angry and told her that it was the foolish 
priest who had made her think these things. 


The ad ventures of John paS-pl Vs. 165 

and that she would see in time that she was 
wrong, and that I was right, and that a girl’s 
heart could not beat with the pulses of the 
warrior, that women “ were good to dress 
skins, for that they could do well, but to put 
a stout heart beneath a man’s skin, that they 
could not do,” and in a passion I went forth, 
but soon was sorry that I had put sorrow 
upon her by my heat, and went back and 
told her that I was sorry, and that she must 
not be hurt at words, for words break no 
bones. “ But they do more than break limbs 
if they sunder friendship, John ; yet I forgive 
you, and we will talk again of those things,” 
she said sweetly. Yet this irritated me again, 
so not to wound her feelings, I went nor came 
again for some time, but diligently added yet 
more carvings to the great stone that I wished 
to set up as a charm. A sun I cut on the 
stone with many rays, and a man killing his 
foe with a spear that pointed towards the 


l66 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

enemy’s entrenchments, and a line to signify 
those walls, with an eagle flying above them 
ready to swoop. And these figures took me 
long to do, and after they had been cut, the 
stone was so covered with emblems that there 
was no room for more, and I ceased carving. 
The men from the camp would come and 
look at me and ask me the meaning, and they 
were told that this would be more powerful 
than any war standard, and that we would 
not leave this place until we could take the 
stone past the walls that had defied us, and 
set it up on the top of a mound within the 
fortifications, that it might testify of our 
siege and capture of the walls. But other 
means must be taken, and magic should be 
used. Meantime the hunters had procured 
enough meat to set us free from any appre- 
hension of hunger, for the wondrous herds 
still kept in the neighbourhood, so that there 
was feasting in the midst of the sorrow for 


THE AD VENTURES OF fOHN PAS-PL US. 167 

those who had fallen. These were very 
numerous, and all had lost friends. Now, 
although we had food, these men could not 
come back to share it, but it was deemed that 
their spirits might assist us by spreading fear 
in the ranks of the enemy, and it was ordered 
that the dance should be begun which never 
ceases until the Saviour comes, and makes 
the ghosts of the dead arise and leads them 
to victory over all wicked men, so that they 
who call the ghosts shall if they die wander 
with them in the beautiful hunting grounds 
and never know anything of want, but always 
feast and hunt, and be joyous as the summer 
winds. So in the centre of the camp there 
was a wide space made, and by turns chosen 
bands of dancers danced round in a ring, 
following each other in the circle, and making 
dismal sounds, and they also painted them- 
selves like the dead they called upon. Ever 
and ever they went round, beating the ground 


1 68 the adventures of JOHN pas-plus. 

with their feet as they lifted them, or crouch- 
ing, made as though they were killing death 
itself. The musicians beat incessantly on the 
great war drums, and the holloaing and the 
dull thunder of the instruments never ceased 
night or day. The noise was fearful, and the 
gestures of the men who danced around the 
ever-renewed circle, brandishing their weapons 
and howling, were enough to awaken the 
dead. And I went often and encouraged 
them to yet more exertions, and told them 
that perhaps Erinors would appear to them, 
and give them back the arrows I had lost 
through no fault of mine. On one of these 
evenings when all were gathered to watch the 
ghost dancers, or to see the spoils recently 
brought in by the hunters, or to lie and chat 
and smoke, or yet again to spy what the 
enemy on their walls were about, I sought 
out Marie. And she rose gladly when she 
saw me, and came to me with that sweet 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 169 

smile which was ever restful for my perturbed 
mind, and was like oil poured into an inflamed 
wound, and I sat down by her side and told 
her of all our hopes, of all our preparations, 
and how the ghost dance was to be kept up, 
for the whole camp believed in me, and in my 
advice. And then she took riiy hand, and 
said gently, “ And, John, will you not also 
pray to my Great Spirit, as well as to those 
you have trusted in ? ” I remained silent, 
and she yet pressed me and told me that all 
the soldiers I had seen fighting with such 
powerful guns near Quebec, all asked her 
God for assistance. Then said I, “Of what 
good is that if they both ask the same God, 
and he gives the victory more to one than to 
the other.? ” Yet she persisted and said that 
it was He who had made them so strong that 
they could make the cannon, by which wars 
were more quickly brought to a close, and 
that, although we did not know the reason, 


170 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

He would surely give the victory to those 
that believed in Him most. Then told I her 
of a rumour that the soldiers of Louis had 
lost, and that George’s men had won, but she 
would not believe it, and said that peace of 
mind and the victory over evil was yet of 
more importance than any other conquest, 
and that sometimes the God she worshipped 
gave men evil for a time that they might turn 
to Him and get the victory. But this did not 
convince me. But I spoke her fair, and said 
that if all failed that I tried to effect through 
the help of Erinors, then perhaps I might try 
her friends, and see if they had magic more 
potent than the God whose voice I had heard. 
She declared that this was in a trance, and 
that she knew what a trance was like, for it 
was in such flights of the mind from the 
body for a while that she was able to know 
where I was, and to follow me, yet these were 
good only if sent by her Deity. This I 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS- PL US. 1 7 1 

thought a conceited speech for a girl, but I 
did not tell her so, for I was resolved this 
time not to be angry. So I departed from 
her, resolving to do all that could be done by 
my own magic, and for this it seemed neces- 
sary that I should again visit the mount- 
ain, and if I could get yet four arrows more, 
I might return as- the Messiah to my 
army. Then were the chiefs again gathered 
together, and I made them an oration, 
setting forth my reasons why they should con- 
tinue the ghost dance, until a Messiah should 
come who would lead them over the ram- 
parts that had defied us. And they an- 
swered through the mouth of their most elo- 
quent chief, who was chosen to speak after 
very much grave counsel had been given, 
that they believed I was right, for if they con- 
tinued to dance and call on Manito he would 
surely hear and send a Messiah to save the 
people, and give them that which they be- 


172 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

lieved should be theirs, meaning thereby the 
goods of the other folk — of their enemies. 
Then said I that I would go again to fast 
and pray, and see what my prayers would 
bring, and that they were after some days to 
watch the prairie to the northward, and to 
see if they could behold the Messiah coming 
to them in answer to their calls, and then 
that the dead might come to life again, and 
fight on our side. They all agreed that this 
could not fail to convince our foes of their 
sinfulness in defending what had been hither- 
to their own. Had we not already taken 
their buffalo .? But why was it, one man 
asked, that we never now saw them save on 
their walls ? And another declared that they 
had many buffalo, as he believed, within those 
enclosures, so that they required not to hunt 
outside, and they asked me if in my wisdom 
I could see over the walls. And I said 
nothing, but looked only upward as though 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 173 

beholding a star, for I liked not to say that 
I could not look through a wall, when they 
thought that I should be able to do this. 
Then I took meat with me, and accompanied 
by some horsemen the journey to the moun- 
tain was begun. And when the blue mass 
with the flat top appeared near enough above 
the green plains for the eye to see the dark 
firs that girdled its base, my escort returned, 
and I proceeded alone, for it was arranged 
that they should not again look for me ex- 
cept by turning their eyes on a swell of the 
prairie that was the highest near unto the 
camp. I would approach our army again by 
way of that gentle hill. Thus alone I con- 
tinued on my way, and arrived without ad- 
venture at the fringe of the woods, and as I 
entered them I looked back upon the plains 
where nothing could be seen but the winds 
waving the long grasses that bowed to the 
breeze, and it seemed as though green waves 


1 74 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

were passing silently across the sea, but 
these waves broke not, but passed on in 
silence beautiful with the foam only of 
blossom that heaved upon the breast of 
their billows. Then with a sigh, for I 
knew I had pain and starvation and toil 
before me, I plunged into the woods. Deer 
fled across my path, and the sun marked in 
gold and bright spots of light my road 
until I reached the larger trees that were 
firs, and which were straight and tall, 
making the ground brown beneath them, 
and shutting out the sun. But here I did 
not begin my fast, wishing to preserve 
my strength. Then upon my sight came the 
scene where the army lay before it set out on 
its march to the south. The spot made me 
very sad, for what is more melancholy than 
desolation where we participated in an event- 
ful and crowded life Many who left those 
glades in all the pride and panoply of war 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 175 

were lying dead among an exultant enemy, 
who seemed to despise even the dead, for they 
sallied not out of their entrenchments nor 
took the trouble to inflict more evil on those 
whom they seemed to think they had suffi- 
ciently punished. And in the hush of the 
forest my fancy went back to the camp, and 
on my ears came again the beating of the war 
drums, and the cries of the dancers dancing 
the ghost dance. And their hopes rested so 
much on me, and what I would do for them, 
and yet how little that might be! Would 
the God hear me, and forgive me for the care- 
lessness in not keeping to myself the wondrous 
weapons that had fallen near me for me to 
take and use them } Would he relent? Had 
he mercy ? He knew that I had fought with 
all my strength, but might I not have better 
obeyed his commands ? And low-spirited I 
continued my way, sleeping one night at the 
first part of the steep ascent, glad to have the 


1 76 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

shelter of the wood for my lonely rest. On 
the following morning my steps carried me 
rapidly upwards, until, panting for breath, I 
came to the steep slopes bare of heavy timber, 
and then the bushes too were left behind, 
and the black precipice soared above me to 
the clouds. On and on, hour after hour, I 
climbed, finding again the narrow pathway 
where the softer rock seam was worn, and 
arrived at the ledge which was again to be 
my place of starvation and of vigil. There I 
lay some long space, sleeping indeed at night, 
but when the sun could show the country on 
the other side, arising and gaining the plat- 
form I knew so well. There were no clouds 
about, and I could look down upon the forests 
and the plains on one side, and on the other 
to where the blue lake stretched in its im- 
mensity till a deeper line of blue marked the 
horizon, where I thought my boat must first 
have been tossed about by the gale. All day 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 177 

I ate nothing, but paced the platform top, 
and round and round, and peered below 
where the eagles were wheeling and floating 
in the clear air, while in the heat of the day 
a blue mist rose from the far away earth and 
shore, and mantled wood and all glades and 
openings and thickets in a dim cerulean 
haze. And another day passed, and I was 
parched with thirst, and bore it long, but at 
last descended again for some distance past 
my cave, and drank of a spring. And ever 
the clear air reigned around untroubled 
by cloud or storm ; and the nights were 
cold and the days warm. The rage of hunger 
seemed to me intolerable, yet resistance to this 
was the only hope of seeing the God. And I 
lay on my ledge and groaned away the ter- 
rible hours. And a fourth, and fifth, and 
sixth day I managed to exist with the help 
of the water, but still there was no change 
and no sign, though I cried aloud for mercy 


1 78 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

and a sign. But no sign came, and the 
appointed time passed, and I felt I was 
forsaken. Then creeping down as before 
I reached the camp, and drank of a brook 
there, and fed again on the meat I had 
left hidden below. Reflecting that my 
people and the army must not suffer or be 
discouraged for my fault, I determined that 
even yet I would let them believe that I had 
succeeded, that again Erinors was with me. 
And I made arrows like unto the first, daub- 
ing their points with paint, like to the bright 
metal, made of a certain clay, and I made my 
raiment all white with a white clay, and my 
face also, and I cut a tall wand, and peeled 
the bark, so that this also was white, and the 
wing plumes of some swans I shot made me 
a white crest of feathers that stretched from 
above my head down my back to the ground 
at my heels, and so disguised, with part of 
the white swan’s breast on my head and 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 179 

shoulders, I set out, after halting long enough 
to be thoroughly refreshed. For I was deter- 
mined to be to their eyes the Messiah that 
should come to free them from evil and 
to carry conquest with him. Again should 
their war standards advance under my 
guidance, and the ditch be passed, the 
walls scaled, and we should rest in 
peace, and make the dwellers in the mounds 
our slaves to do our bidding! It seemed 
very long before I came within the neigh- 
bourhood of the army, and making a circuit, 
so as to keep the little hill between me and 
them, I advanced cautiously and slowly, 
bending forward to hear the sounds that must 
be proceeding from the ghost dancers and 
the drum beaters. But I could hear nothing, 
though the wind was favourable, and though 
I listened often, pausing to bend to the 
ground to listen. Then when I got close to 
the ridge of the rising ground I hurried 


1 8o THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

forward with a great shouting, to let the 
warriors know I had come. I reached the 
ridge. Before me far to right and left 
stretched the camp. The lodges were there, 
but there was no sound of the dance or of 
the drum. There was no movement of men. 
There was no marching of bands of warriors 
exercising for battle. Silence brooded over 
all, and I gazed astonished, and rose to 
full height, and advanced my wand, that any 
eyes that watched might see me. Then 
heard I after a time a scream as of one in 
despair, and then nothing more, until some 
time after another cry. Then felt I that 
some great misfortune had come, and I went 
swiftly on, shouting my war cry, and calling 
on Erinors, for I wished to keep up my 
courage, which was failing me. And 
again my knees shook as they trembled 
when the first time I descended from the 
lofty rock. And presently, when 1 was quite 


TSS ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. i8l 

near, some persons crawled out of their 
lodges and feebly answered my cry. Then 
saw I more, but they all crawled as though 
wounded. I entered the camp and greeted 
them, but they ‘called out feebly, “The 
Messiah has come, the Messiah has come,” 
and a sound of wailing and of feeble crying 
came to me from many parts. Then ques- 
tioning the few I first met, I saw that they 
could scarce speak, for they were covered 
with spots of black, and were horrid to look 
upon, and swollen and disfigured. Then 
knew I that the pestilence had come, and 
had fed upon the manhood of the natives ; 
and from among the tents rose vultures, and 
wolves rose from the dead I saw lying in the 
lodges, and foul smells were in the air, and I 
stood struck with horror. I stood in my 
white attire, with the pride of the swan 
feathers flowing down my back from my 
crested head, with my wand outstretched in 


1 8 2 THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 

fear before me, the only strong man in the 
whole of the great army. All my comrades, 
loathsome and deformed, crawled around me 
and jibbered and pointed to the dead, and 
groaned, for the dead lay everywhere, and 
there were none to bury them. Alas ! alas ! 
and I groaned also, and went to the lodge of 
Marie, where she lay, alive, but helpless and 
sadly changed. Then ran I to the place 
where I had left my medicines, and I gave to 
her those that I thought would do good, and 
to a few more, as long as the drugs lasted, 
reserving them for the men who seemed 
strongest, for in my mind there arose yet a 
hope. If the plague had come here, it had 
probably come to the dwellers on the mounds. 
What if magic might yet avail.? What if 
we could place the sculptured stone on the 
centre altar within the mounds .? And a few 
did get some strength, and after some days 
were past — days during which every one 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 183 

seemed dying save those to whom I had 
given the medicine, three of us lifted the 
stone and advanced to the walls. There 
everything was silent, and we got into the 
ditch where were the skeletons of our dead 
warriors picked clean by the crows and vul- 
tures, and we prized up the stone, and rolled 
it with great pains to the top of the rampart. 
Thence we saw a curious sight, for the town 
of the mound dwellers lay at our feet, enclosed 
by the great green walls that were shaped in 
outline like a buffalo lying down when he 
is wounded or asleep. The town was all 
built of round-roofed houses made of clay or 
mud, and in front of each stood the spear 
and shield of the owner, and the war stan- 
dards, great spears with skins attached to 
them, still waved their plumes in line along 
the ramparts. But there was no one to lift 
them ; and skeletons of buffaloes lay in scores 
in one part of the enclosure, where they had 


1 84 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

died of some disease. It was a city of the 
dead, for the plague had begun here, and it 
was from the mound dwellers that the winds 
had carried it to our camp. Only the horses 
remained alive, and neighing they sought in 
vain the hands of their masters. We rolled 
the stone down on the inner face, and carried 
it past the open door of the mound houses, 
where no man met us or questioned our sad 
conquest, and we went on, although the smell 
from the bodies sickened us, until we came 
to the centre. There rose a great altar, with 
terraced steps, and on its summit we laid 
the stone, and called on Erinors. But no 
sound came, and my companions said, 
“ Let us get back and make more medicine. 
Perhaps the God will save us now.” Then 
we returned, and I went and sat with poor 
Marie and told her what I had done, and she 
said, “ Oh ! even yet, John, you will not 
believe in the true God. I thought I should 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 185 

have died before you returned. Will you 
not now give up Erinors ” And I, knowing 
that in weakness a woman must be humoured, 
told her that I had indeed been grieved by 
his desertion of us, and hoped her God 
would do more for us. She was too weak 
to speak much, but I let her say what she 
could, and answered her only soothingly. 
Then she told me that her mind in her illness 
had gone back to her childhood, and she 
related how her affection for me had been a 
strange puzzle to her, for although I had 
saved her father for a while, and had felt 
grateful to me for that unavailing act, since he 
had died so soon, yet that she had felt more 
and more interest from the first than she 
could account for. Then she said that her 
father had been her only parent. And I 
asked how that was. “ My mother was killed 
by the savages when I was a baby, or quite 
young, and yet I remeniber it, and that I 


1 8 6 7 he ad ventures of JOHN PAS- PL US. 

and another child who may have been a 
brother or sister were there, and tried to 
awaken my mother where she lay dead, and 
that is why I have detested the savages, and 
yet when you came to me, though you were 
white yet were you also a savage, and yet I 
loved you, John.” Then told I her how I also 
believed I could remember the killing of my 
mother. And she looked at me very earnestly, 
and then said, “John, much as I long to hear 
you speak, yet if you stay with me, the plague 
will take you ; go, I beseech you.” But I 
laughed at this, for I thought I was secure 
in having taken medicine to ward off the 
disease. Still to please her I went, and 
determined to try once more if my magic would 
not avail to stay the plague. I passed the ram- 
part and went to the stone on the altar, and 
poured some of my blood from my arm on 
the arm of the figure of the crouching war- 
rior, and waited there, and ate nothing, and 


THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 187 

lay for a day and a night there. But on the 
morning of the second day I saw the sky 
dark to windward, and then to leeward. 
And as I gazed the black clouds swept up, 
and began to be illumined by distant flashes. 
Swiftly they came closing in on every side, 
and the air grew dark as at night, and nearer 
came the thunder peals, until they roared and 
rattled overhead. The lightning was so in- 
tense that I could not bear to look at it, yet 
confident still in my powers I stretched my 
wand heavenward and prayed to Erinors. 
Then the heavenly flames ran down from the 
clouds to earth, yet passed not, but stood, — 
shaking columns of living fire twixt earth 
and sky ! And I, erect in my plumes and 
white attire, stood amid these flashes. They 
divided the atmosphere, and hissed, and ran 
along the ground until the earth seemed one 
blue blaze of light, and then would come a 
pause, and greater gloom, and ever again the 


l 88 the adventures of JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

sheen of their wrath sprang out in liquid 
dazzling streams, and the air was convulsed, 
and shook and bellowed. Yet held I up 
proudly my swan crest of plumes, when one 
ball of light fell on me, and I knew not after- 
wards what happened. I must have fallen 
close to the great sculptured stone, for I 
awoke when the storm had passed, and my 
white wand was blackened and lay by my 
side, and I looked up to the stone, and lo ! 
it lay in fragments. Then confusedly rising 
I staggered back, and went to Marie, and 
found her lying cold and stiff, for she must 
have been long dead. But the air seemed 
cleansed, and the few remaining men said they 
had seen her come forth and lift her hands 
and pray as she knelt in the thunder fury, 
and had told them that her God had heard 
her prayer. Then believed I that Erinors 
was nought as compared with the God of 
my friend Marie, and I wept and acknow- 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 189 

ledged Him. But I could not stay long in 
that valley of death and among those natives 
who believed not in the Great Spirit my 
beloved Marie had called upon. Yet loved 
I them well, and gathering some together, 
ere many days were past, I told them that the 
plague was stayed, that they would soon be 
stronger, and bade them move away from 
the dead. We buried Marie, and I, with 
all my foolish and useless dress torn away 
from me by my own hands, stood and wept 
at her grave. Yet one thing more I then 
told them in an oration in which my voice 
faltered like a child’s, namely, that I would 
go away from them now to the east, yet I 
might return some day to do them more good 
than had been done by me at this time, for 
my power would be strengthened when I 
returned. They would not see me again, 
perhaps, for years might elapse, and they 
might be dead, but their children might see 


190 THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PLUS. 

my works for them even if I came not again. 
I must now depart from among them and go 
to the rising of the sun. And they crowded 
round me weeping, and I left them, wearing 
myself no war paint, but as you see me now. 
I hear that they and their children still await 
my coming, and they believe that like the 
rising sun I shall once more visit the land 
where Marie sleeps. Nor do I know who 
Marie was but often I think, that she was 
none other than the child who wrestled with 
death, and who sought to awake with me the 
mother’s love for which we both yearned ; for 
when can a man forget the mother who bore 
him, if his eyes in childhood saw her? Who 
does not seek to imagine what her likeness 
may have been even though he himself never 
saw her? The love that led Marie to seek 
me remains a mystery. The blue arch of 
the sky above the vast horizon of those bound- 
less plains looks as though no secrets could 


THE AD VENTURES OF JOHN PAS-PL US. 191 

lie beneath it, so open and bright seems all 
around. But on those fair green meadows 
man has been, and where his footstep treads 
there also must remain hidden sorrows, and 
things that may not be revealed until the 
last day. 


FINIS. 



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THE ADVENTURES 

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OF 

JOHN PAS-PLUS 


BY 

THE MARQUIS OF LORNE 


NEW YORK 

JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY 

I 50 WORTH ST., COR. MISSION PLACE 














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